INTIMATE AI
Young Women's Self-Perception and Embodied Knowledge in an Era of Automation
About the Project
In this project we research Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI. Today, AI is ubiquitous, and many of the apps we use daily already incorporate AI. Therefore, we want to understand how AI that is used today is experienced in the intimate, private parts of life. We examine apps used for tracking menstrual cycles, how social media algorithms shape existential reflections on TikTok, and how chatbots for social relationships are perceived.
AI is a statistical model that analyzes our data and then suggests how we should live and understand ourselves. What does it mean for AI to be involved in shaping us and our experience of our private, intimate lives?
Purpose
The project investigates what happens when AI calculates our intimate lives for us. We need to understand the role AI plays in our daily lives as it becomes an increasingly significant part of our routine. Do we understand ourselves, our bodies, and desires better, or does our self-understanding become as mathematical as the algorithms themselves? In an interdisciplinary collaboration between Human-Computer Interaction, Existential Media Studies, and Gender Studies, we explore these questions in depth, focusing on young women. We ask:
- How do young women experience intimate AI in their daily lives?
- What strategies of acceptance and resistance do young women have regarding intimate AI?
- What alternative intimate AI futures can we imagine?
Project participants: Lina Eklund, Helga Sadowski, Matilda Tudor, Lauren Richter, Amanda Lagerkvist
Project financed by: Swedish Research Council
