The gendered nature of AI: Men and masculinities through the lens of ChatGPT and GPT4

Because artificial intelligence powered language models such as the GPT series have most certainly come to stay and will permanently change the way individuals all over the world access information and form opinions, there is a need to highlight potential risks for the understanding and perception of men and masculinities. It is important to understand whether ChatGPT or its following versions such as GPT4 are biased – and if so, in which direction and to which degree. In the specific research field on men and masculinities, it seems paramount to understand the grounds upon which these language models respond to seemingly simple questions such as “What is a man?” or “What is masculine?”. In the following, we provide interactions with ChatGPT and GPT4 where we asked such questions, in an effort to better understand the quality and potential biases of the answers from ChatGPT and GPT4. We then critically reflect on the output by ChatGPT, compare it to the output by GPT4 and draw conclusions for future actions.