Abstract
The present study investigated how the perceived gender of AI conversational assistants and the tasks they perform combine to influence perceptions of AI competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill (i.e., credibility). Participants evaluated AI assistants that appeared female or male and varied in the task they performed (stereotypically feminine or masculine task). Findings did not support an overall preference for female AI assistants over male AI assistants. Rather, perceived AI gender interacted with gender stereotypes associated with the task performed to affect perceptions of AI credibility. Notably, AI perceived to be very feminine had the highest credibility when performing stereotypically feminine tasks and the lowest credibility when performing stereotypically masculine tasks. The credibility of AI perceived to be masculine was not contingent on the task performed.
DOI
10.30658/hmc.13.4
Recommended Citation
Videira, J., & DeAndrea, D. C. (2026). Gender and task alignment influences the credibility of feminine but not masculine AI conversational assistants. Human-Machine Communication, 13. 101-121. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.13.4
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