Speaking from Experience: Trans/Non-Binary Requirements for Voice-Activated AI

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Voice-Activated Artificial Intelligence (VAI) is increasingly ubiquitous, whether appearing as context-specific conversational assistants or more personalised and generalised personal assistants such as Alexa or Siri. CSCW and other researchers have regularly studied the (positive and negative) social consequences of their design and deployment. One particular focus has been questions of gender, and the implications that the (often-feminine) gendering of VAIs has for societal norms and user experiences. Studies into this have largely elided transgender (trans) existences; the few exceptions to this operate largely from an external and predetermined idea of trans and/or non-binary user needs, centered on representation. In this study, we undertook a series of qualitative interviews with trans and/or non-binary users of VAIs to explore their experiences and needs. Our results show that these needs are far more than a question of representation, and instead have implications for the framing of gender as a concept by VAI designers, their approach to user privacy, the wider feature set supported, and the structures and contexts in which VAIs are designed. We provide both immediate recommendations for designers and researchers seeking to create trans-inclusive VAIs, and wider, critical proposals for how we as researchers go about assessing technological systems and appropriate points of intervention.