Bossy: Artificial, intelligent and female
Jenny Kennedy: It doesn t really address one of the main problems, which is the type of work that these devices are brought into the home to do and the most appropriate ways of doing that kind of labor. It s very calculated and algorithmically managed. But it s also about how that kind of wife work is valued in the home, and the way in which we have previously valued or undervalued the people that are doing that work.
In the book, we mention voice assistants used in other contexts. But we re looking specifically at voice assistants in the home. And there s still this very rigid and limited ideal of what the home is, and the roles people play. We still operate on the basis of 2.4 people and assume heteronormative relations between the adult couple. It s that context that makes all these devices really problematic, because they are reenergizing that outdated ideal.