“Who is sexually harassed? A python code haha”: imaginaries of a post-violent AI world

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the AI imaginaries surrounding Lee Luda 1.0, a female AI companion designed by Scatter Lab, a start-up company based in South Korea. While the company envisioned its AI companion to become everyone’s best friend, Lee Luda became a controversial figure after it was reported that a subset of male users had sexually harassed the chatbot. In response, Scatter Lab evaded questions about Lee Luda’s sexual harassment as a gender problem and many users of online male communities denied the possibility of sexual abuse against a chatbot, thus not considering it as an ethical problem. Moving beyond questions that query whether sexual harassment of AI is real, this study examines how people shape the terms of acceptance surrounding gendered AI abuse and their ethical implications. Through an examination of the discourses surrounding Lee Luda’s sexual harassment, this study argues that Scatter Lab and a subset of users advance technoliberal imaginaries, mainly imaginaries of a post-violent AI world, which perceive violence against AI as unreal and abstracted from misogynistic violence in real life. This study concludes by discussing the consequences of technoliberal imaginaries surrounding gendered AI abuse and how we can challenge them.