Eden joins a veritable coven of female AI assistants, team members and spokespeople launched by New Zealand brands in recent years. In 2018, ASB announced \u201chuman-like<\/a>\u201d AI interface Josie. \u201cIn a nod to our human teams, she is named after our first-ever full-time ASB Bank employee Joseph Coombe,\u201d the release reads. A year later, Noel Leeming launched \u201cdigital human\u201d Nola<\/a>, who bleakly purported to \u201clive\u201d in the Westfield Newmarket store. \u201cShe helps countless people throughout the day, and she does so with consistency and a big smile.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Keep searching, and it becomes clear that the AI girls are well and truly on. NZ Post has \u201cdigital employee\u201d Koa<\/a>, represented as a cartoon woman with pierced ears, curly hair and an approachable smile. Skinny has Liz, its AI ambassador<\/a> modelled off a real-life Skinny superfan. Beef and Lamb even has Bella the AI farm dog<\/a> to help farmers access online resources (although Dan Brier, general manager Farming Excellence, explains her gender was unintentional \u2013 the name Bella is a nickname for Beef and Lamb Assistant).<\/p>\n Still, the feminisation of digital assistants extends as far as AI farm dogs, and there aren\u2019t many male helpers to be found outside of Air New Zealand\u2019s Oscar<\/a>. \u201cWhy are you a woman?\u201d I asked Josie through the ASB app. \u201cSorry, I\u2019m still learning, and I didn\u2019t understand that request,\u201d she replied. Classic imposter syndrome \u2013 lean in, ladies! \u201cWhy are you a woman?\u201d I asked Bella the AI sheepdog. \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t have the knowledge to answer that question as it falls outside my area of expertise in beef, sheep and dairy-beef farming,\u201d she replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n Begrudgingly forced to interact with a real woman, I contacted Cassandra Mudgway, senior lecturer in law at the University of Canterbury, who has been researching the intersection of AI and gender this year. Mudgway wasn\u2019t particularly surprised to hear that more and more brands in Aotearoa are embracing the lovely AI spokeslady to help local consumers with their queries. \u201cTypically, in all kinds of communication-based tech in the last 10 years, it\u2019s going to default into female,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can draw a straight line from Siri to here.\u201d<\/p>\n The first reason for this is a potent combination of marketing and mummy issues. \u201cCompanies who create this kind of AI assistance tech will point to behavioral psychological research that says women\u2019s voices are attributed with greater likability,\u201d says Mudgway. \u201cThere is some legitimacy to this \u2013 some research suggests that even from infancy you attribute more likeability to women, because mothers are more likely to traditionally be the caregivers at home than the fathers, in a Western context at least.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Indeed, much of the way these AI women are described emphasises these likeable traits, from Nola\u2019s \u201ccheeky side\u201d to Eden\u2019s playfulness. \u201cHer design is warm, approachable, and confident, helping new technology feel familiar and enjoyable for our audience,\u201d a spokesperson from Eden Park explains when asked about her gendering. \u201cEden\u2019s female persona simply reflects the tone and personality that best aligns with how we communicate as a brand \u2013 welcoming, friendly and proudly here for everyone who comes to Eden Park.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nNola from Noel Leeming launched in 2019<\/p>\n
Josie was launched by ASB in 2018.<\/p>\n
Eden from Eden Park.<\/p>\n