The Detriment of Constructs: Simone de Beauvoir and Our AI Categories

Simone de Beauvoir showed that categories we treat as natural — “man” and “woman,” “self” and “other” — are constructed, maintained, and enforced. They shape not just how we see the world but what we believe is possible within it.

In this episode of Machines & Meaning, we apply Beauvoir’s insight to the categories that govern AI: “high risk” and “low risk,” “biased” and “fair,” “intelligent” and “not intelligent.” These constructs frame regulation, shape public understanding, and determine which systems receive scrutiny.

But what if the categories themselves are the problem? Beauvoir would urge us to ask who benefits from these classifications — and whose experience they render invisible.