Chatbot design carries a documented female-by-default gender bias¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In an analysis of 1,375 chatbots, 63.6 percent carried at least one gender cue, and where a cue was present it was overwhelmingly female, leading the study's authors to recommend against female-by-default designs. → Stark 2026

Evidence¶

Stark 2026¶

Stark, B., & Rostan, J. (2026). LUDIA: A design and evidence statement (Version 1.0). Ask LUDIA. https://askludia.com/en doi:10.35542/osf.io/3nmgp_v1

q2 · i? · design · r1

The statement cites Feine et al. (2020), reporting that of 1,375 chatbots on chatbots.org, "63.6 percent carried at least one gender cue" and gendered cues were overwhelmingly female. The study's authors call this a gender bias in chatbot design and recommend against female-by-default designs; UNESCO's account of female-default voice assistants is cited as consistent.

"In an analysis of 1,375 chatbots listed on chatbots.org, 63.6 percent carried at least one gender cue in their name, avatar, or description, and where a cue was present it was overwhelmingly female: 76.9 percent of the gendered names, 77.6 percent of the gendered avatars, and 67.4 percent of the gendered descriptions."

Discussion¶

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