Disrupting Digital Intimacy: A Multimodal Analysis of Gendered Power Dynamics in AI Companionship and Its Educational Implications

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Meaning-making as Social Action across Media, Disciplines, and Identities

Abstract

This paper critically examines how AI companionship reproduces patriarchal norms and gendered hierarchies, with profound implications for education. Through multimodal discourse analysis of Grok’s Ani, the study reveals how visual design, language, and interaction scripts in AI companions naturalize subservience, transactional intimacy, and asymmetrical emotional labor. Analyzing the aesthetics of Ani’s visual design and three multimodal interactional scenarios, the paper demonstrates how these technologies perpetuate hegemonic masculinity and capitalist commodification of care. It argues that unchecked integration of such tools in educational settings risks normalizing exploitative relational models. The conclusion proposes equitable design principles centered on mutuality, critical consciousness, and justice, urging educators and developers to transform AI companionship into a tool for empowerment rather than harmful social reproduction.

Authors

• Liang Cao, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Qinghua Chen, The Education University of Hong Kong