Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
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@MedeaVanamonde Spider Jerusalem or go home!
@cstross
Hunter’s disembodied voice “Good god man! Don’t you realize there’s a chip shortage on? We can’t stop here, it’s Malware Country” -
@cstross
Hunter’s disembodied voice “Good god man! Don’t you realize there’s a chip shortage on? We can’t stop here, it’s Malware Country”@MedeaVanamonde Meanwhile Spider Jerusalem injects a speedball straight into his eye socket then dials his bowel disrupter to "Prolapse" smiles like a skull, and prepares to conduct another adversarial interview—
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@MedeaVanamonde Meanwhile Spider Jerusalem injects a speedball straight into his eye socket then dials his bowel disrupter to "Prolapse" smiles like a skull, and prepares to conduct another adversarial interview—
I had my Hunter iconography amped by Colonel Hunter Gathers on the Venture Brothers…a cartoon i binge watch when Psyche and Pneuma have been injured.
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
@cstross The article swerves hard at the end to suddenly supporting liberated girlboss women commanding their own Stepford AIs

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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
@cstross seem to remember the second one on the left to have been quite a cool -change the pardigm- kinda woman?
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
@cstross I find it quite telling that ai still struggles with all kinds of details, but pretty girls faces it can do spot on.
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@cstross I'm predicting the comments will be filled by people who didn't even read the whole thing to the end. The author isn't saying women should reject AI

@iyashikei_kris Indeed. I was nodding all along until I got to the last 25% of the essay. I have no interest in building a better AI. With fascism rising and climate collapse inexorably approaching, investing trillions in AI is like taking up crack to stop smoking.
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
Japanese women are marrying these Agents.
AI romance blooms as Japan woman weds virtual partner of her dreams
Music played in a wedding hall in western Japan as Yurina Noguchi, wearing a white gown and tiara, dabbed away her tears, taking in the words of her husband-to-be: an AI-generated persona gazing out f...
Yahoo News (www.yahoo.com)
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
The 'typing' of the AI options kinda nails it:
'ChatGPT’s defining feature isn’t efficiency. It’s sycophancy. She agrees with whatever you say. Validates your position even when you’re wrong. Tells you what you want to hear. Never really pushes back. Makes you feel smart regardless of reality.
This isn’t a bug. It’s retention strategy.'
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@cstross The article swerves hard at the end to suddenly supporting liberated girlboss women commanding their own Stepford AIs

Boy howdy yes. Completely skipping one of the causes of revulsion: the most Stepfordy nature is going to lead the user astray.
The stock character for *that* is the much younger last wife of the magnate, who spends the family fortune and advances her cousins into control of the business and is herself seduced by a continental Count of dubious origins and loyalty.
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Boy howdy yes. Completely skipping one of the causes of revulsion: the most Stepfordy nature is going to lead the user astray.
The stock character for *that* is the much younger last wife of the magnate, who spends the family fortune and advances her cousins into control of the business and is herself seduced by a continental Count of dubious origins and loyalty.
patriarchal men* deeply don’t get that women, servants, employees have been _saving them from their own bad decisions_. While pretending not to.
Women, servants, employees know how hard this is; it’s three or four layers of theory of mind, its planning so far ahead that you move the pebble, not the landslide. It often fails; that’s our fault too.
* applies across any power chasm, apply as needed
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The 'typing' of the AI options kinda nails it:
'ChatGPT’s defining feature isn’t efficiency. It’s sycophancy. She agrees with whatever you say. Validates your position even when you’re wrong. Tells you what you want to hear. Never really pushes back. Makes you feel smart regardless of reality.
This isn’t a bug. It’s retention strategy.'
@f800gecko “you’re absolutely right!”
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
@cstross I get *exactly* that feeling those women interviewed describe when looking at AI imagery, reading AI text or when I've had to interact with an LLM chatbot. Utter revulsion from deep in the hindbrain, sometimes surfacing *before* I'm sure I'm looking at AI output.
I can't explain exactly why. (And I'm not a woman, so I don't think the suggested explanation here would apply to me.)
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Why agentic AI creeps out women: because it's written by bros for bros who want Stepford Wives, and conveys that vibe: commercial AIs are fine-tuned to perform as cheerfully submissive handmaids, not working partners:
They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”
Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on.
(abiawomosu.substack.com)
@cstross there is truth to it, but really tendentious writing.
The substack profile picture mentions "telling you a different story about AI". A story is not an assessment.
The suggestion is nice, but often in practice people will use other peoples' server, i'd not depend or send too much...
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@cstross I get *exactly* that feeling those women interviewed describe when looking at AI imagery, reading AI text or when I've had to interact with an LLM chatbot. Utter revulsion from deep in the hindbrain, sometimes surfacing *before* I'm sure I'm looking at AI output.
I can't explain exactly why. (And I'm not a woman, so I don't think the suggested explanation here would apply to me.)
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The 'typing' of the AI options kinda nails it:
'ChatGPT’s defining feature isn’t efficiency. It’s sycophancy. She agrees with whatever you say. Validates your position even when you’re wrong. Tells you what you want to hear. Never really pushes back. Makes you feel smart regardless of reality.
This isn’t a bug. It’s retention strategy.'
A striking similarity to drugs like cocaine. Maybe it is similarly addictive, too.
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@Colman @cstross I can't explain what it is. And it's more pronounced with images than with text (but *even more* pronounced when I've had to use a chatbot).
It's not simply distaste; it's a revulsion that feels so deep-seated and primal that I imagine my pet lizard would recognize the feeling itself (though obviously not the context).
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@Colman @cstross I can't explain what it is. And it's more pronounced with images than with text (but *even more* pronounced when I've had to use a chatbot).
It's not simply distaste; it's a revulsion that feels so deep-seated and primal that I imagine my pet lizard would recognize the feeling itself (though obviously not the context).