Biased Immersive Technologies and Their Role in Forming Gender Identity

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Abstract

The main problem addressed in this article is the relationship be- tween technology and the human body. The article overviews artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and computer-generated imagery (CGI) technology. It focuses on photorealistic virtual environments that can be generated with the aid of these tools and an increased sense of immersion. The article concludes that due to the photorealistic and immersive aspects of the aforementioned technology, AI, VR and CGI can become tools to discover new identities in a world without a traditional gender construct.

The article also discusses the negative impact of immersive technol- ogies on individuals and society as a whole. The author examines the ways in which creators of immersive technology incorporate their biased worldviews into the technology and how it influences the users indirectly, with specific at- tention to gender-biased technological aspects.

As gender fluidity in the art world is gaining more momentum, new technologies are playing an important part not only as tools or means of expression, but also as vessels of the themes discussed by artists. The article reviews examples of how artists used to deconstruct gender standards in the past and how modern artists are doing it now by deconstructing technology to make it open for discourse. Different immersion capabilities, artistic approaches and conceptual models for the search of another self are reviewed.

A systematic critical approach to the relation of humans and modern technology could lead society away from the reinforcement of traditional gender role models and towards a more open understanding of gender. Having failed to do it, empathy-building tools can reinforce biased views of their creators.