AI as code switching and masking

For some generative AI has felt like a liberation. At long last they can communicate in a way that is heard and understood.

But it's useful sometimes to pause and think, liberated from what? When something is used as an assistive device it is handy to think why it is needed? What other factors are in play?

Generative AI is a statistical aggregate machine. Sometimes it can be good at surfacing what should be good practices that too often aren’t followed (like when a manager makes a dodgy decision by themselves, when talking to any HR person might help them follow best practice). While it can be useful, AI is best at continuing the way things have been done and smoothly perpetuating dominant hegemony.

When someone might feel the need to mask or code switch their language using AI, I think it is up to us to self interrogate. Why might this person want to smooth down their individual edges?

Is it because Indian English is just as valid as American, Canadian or Australian English but is not treated that way? Is it that we have biases against dialects? Is it because we have biases about people who aren't fluent speakers in a dominant language (even if they might be academic scholars in their home country)?

Do we depend too much on written language, when pathways for verbal communicators (be it out of disability or ability) are valuable? For some people a meeting is so much better than an email!

When people need to use assistive devices to feel seen, heard or valued, we should consider how the structures of our spaces contribute to this being necessary.

Thanks to Tal Gluck for an excellent conversation that prompted this post. Check out the State of the Docs when it comes out.

Media I'm enjoying

• Code Switching: How and Why It Happens
  • Includes guidance around how to create safer, more inclusive spaces
• passo.uno (Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti) To Those Who Fired or Didn't Hire Tech Writers Because of AI
• Tara McMullin, What is a search engine
• Dawn Foster, Good Governance for Open Source Projects
• Story Needle (Michael Andrews), Helping people make tough choices
• David LaMotte TED talk, Music can help us understand peace and conflict
  • On the surface of things it's about music, but it's also about how we turn up for each other. How can we listen and be more attentive in ways that reduce the needs for code switching and masking?

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