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AI Girlfriend or AI Boyfriend? Social Determinants of Human-AI Relationships

In the West and across the English-language internet, the idea of using AI for intimate companionship often conjures images of female personas. From Sam Altman's cryptic one-word X post—"her," a clear nod to the 2013 film—to Grok's launch of its AI companion Ani, the dominant narrative seems tailored to a heterosexual male audience. The archetype of the AI girlfriend, designed to be emotionally available, submissive, and aesthetically pleasing, has become a cultural fixture. In China, however, the discourse around human-AI intimacy takes a different shape. Media coverage and user engagement tend to center on women's experiences. The most talked-about AI bachelor? Dan—a character created using the "Do Anything Now" jailbreak prompt—who has captured the hearts of many Chinese women. Online discussions about Dan and similar AI companions flourish on Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle platform with a predominantly female user base, often dubbed "China's Inst...
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Showcase from the AI in the Global South seminar: Project #2 - Malam: A Low-Bandwidth AI Math Tutor for Afghan Girls

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Last semester, Dr. Vikram Kamath Cannanure from I2SC organized the AI in the Global South Seminar where students from Saarland University worked together to discuss case studies, brainstorm the challenges in AI adoption, and build AI applications to support the Global South. In this series of blog posts, we showcase the projects created by the seminar participants.   Project : Malam: A Low-Bandwidth AI Math Tutor for Afghan Girls Team : Tedis Cico, Ahmad Fadel, Mahalakshmi Raveenthiran, Désirée Wiltzius After the Taliban enforced an education ban for girls after sixth grade in late 2021, a lot of girls and women have turned to online studying resources. Our project explores how generative AI (GenAI) can provide safe, motivational, and culturally responsive math tutoring for Afghan girls. To better understand this dreadful problem, we have read papers, watched interviews, listened to podcasts and, most importantly, talked to Hamyoon Behmanush, an Afghan doctoral researcher a...
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Job: Student Research Assistants (m/w/d)

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The Interdisciplinary Institute for Societal Computing (I2SC) is looking to hire 1-2 student research assistants to work on interesting projects contributing to the Society. Interested applicants are kindly requested to email their complete application (short cover letter, CV, summary of academic achievements in one PDF-file) to Katja Raak - kraak@cs.uni-saarland.de
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