General Discussion

I'm currently working on a little story idea. A story that features an intelligent, genderless robot. Am a bit at a loss which pronoun to use for it(?).

"He" or "she" both don't feel right. Plus, the robot will be accompanied by a human using one of these pronouns (which one I haven't decided yet), so writing my become clearer if robot and human don't use the same pronoun.

"They" has a somewhat better feel to it, but I think writing a long-ish story using this pronoun, which is grammatically a bit odd compared to the other two, might be a bit confusing. For me I mean, but there's a chance the readers would be confused too.

"It" is the one I'm currently mostly gravitating towards to, but like with "they", it is a pronoun rarely seen in longer texts in refernce to a character. Also may cause some wording to become odd, since pretty much anything else can also be called "it".


I'll probably also 'translate' the story back to my native German, where this possibly less of an issue. That language has a little quirk in that we have three articles, which in turn also decide the pronoun. And even objects can have masculine or feminine articles, not just neutral ones. So I'll probably find something fitting there. Also, German is a very oinflective language, which results in less possible grammar-confusion.


Anyway, back to English. If anyone of you got any suggestions or arguments I haven't mentioned yet, please tell me. It'd be helpful. Thanks!

i'd just go with they. it's really not that confusing after you get used to it, plus it would help normalize gender neutral pronouns too

Robots dont really have genders to begin with because, you know, theyre robots.

I’d personally go with it or them. Them because theyre computer based and probably have different programs running
Idk

‘It’ can seem rude, i guess. I’d probably start with ‘it’ and then alternate into ‘them’ as the story goes on. Sentimentality and all

I second deerpilot. When I'm writing nonbinary/genderless characters I always use "they/them" because that's... really the only option without using the somewhat dehumanizing "it." You might just have to double-check how you're wording sentences so things don't (possibly) get confusing. For example, if you're talking about the robot and about a group of people in the same sentence. You'd probably want to split that sentence into two, or use the robot's name in place of "them."

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, but I'm not familiar enough with it to give any suggestions.

I'm actually planning on writing a realistic sci-fi novel some day, and while I haven't decided if I want true AI in my universe (given the fact we don't know if it's scientifically possible), if I do decide to have a robot tag along with the protagonists I will definitely use "they/them."

I'd go with 'it' for a robot, personally.

'They' is good for something of indeterminate sex, non-binary gender or somebody where this information is unknown, but the species in question usually had gender. They is good for when somebody cares about not being identified in the binary, too.

However, as you said, you have a human character accompanying it. In this case, 'they' may seem like you're referring to both of them, depending on your sentence structure, which can come across as awkward.

'It' is better for something that was never intended to have gender, like a robot .... as opposed to an android, or gynoid, which are usually made in the form of 'male' or 'female' people and tend to be referred to with the pronouns of the sex they are modelled after.

'It' is truly neutral, better for a robot or non-biological organism.

More importantly, consider how you're showing it. Consider how other people in the story would refer to it -- they might use different pronouns, depending on their interaction. Robots tend to automatically get 'he' pronouns from people who tend towards giving objects a semblance of gender when referring to them, like how cars and boats get female pronouns. Would an individual in the story who views robots pragmatically or as objects go with 'it' because of this? Would somebody more sensitive to it all go with 'they'? Would somebody prone to sentimentality give it a gendered pronoun? People using language doesn't necessarily have to translate to the prose itself.

Your character could refer to it as 'he' or 'she' depending on what name they gave it, while your text could go with 'it'.

It's a robot. It has no gender, no more than a computer or television. It very likely has no concept of gender and probably hasn't considered it. It is unlikely to be important to it.

It's a pretty interesting question, honestly.

A lot of issues people have with this come with 'dehumanisation' and that can be a tripping point with science fiction.

When talking science fiction, this shouldn't be too much of a consideration depending on the circumstances and the species. The robot isn't human. It never was. It isn't being 'dehumanised' with an 'it' pronoun because it was never in a position to care about issues (like gender) that bother humans. It probably cares about as much about gendered referral as you do about how fancy your peacock tail looks to all the peahens. Oh, you don't have a peacock tail? Well then.

Dehumanisation is an issue to consider when talking about humans. It isn't relevant when you're not ... unless the species in question has similar values. If it doesn't? Consider how that looks to people within the context of the story.

When dealing with robots in particular, be wary about anthropomorphising them too much. Adding overly-human values to non-humans is an easy trap to fall into.

It all takes me back to Mass Effect and the whole story with the geth and other artificial intelligences.

EDI for one use she/her pronouns because she obviously sounds like a woman and in ME3 she hijacks another AI’s body that looks female. So, she’s female, right?

With geth it was a little more complicated. Or not so complicated. They as a group would say they had more than one programs running in their one individual body, like the reapers, too. More than one program = they.
But after Legion learned the reaper program and transferred entire intelligence to other geth he became a singular Legion. Maybe complicated.

Everyone kept using he or you pronouns for Legion but they’d correct them using ‘we’.
We are Legion, for We are many.

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations. Haven't yet come to a clear conclusion, but thinking about everything gives me ideas actually unrelated to pronouns. I love this.


@deerpilot

True, I probably need to practice using "they" in longer texts.
The word normalizing you use in this context is interesting too and kinda makes me think. Is it really normalizing if one uses that pronoun for what is - intelligent as it my be - an object. That is actually the kinda questions I like to have, since it's things like that which, in part at least, drive the story.
This little sentence of yours is now something I'll think about a lot while writing. Good.


@MyHartWillDrogon

"Them" because different programs. The Legion approach, I see. It's something worth considering, even though I intend it to be basically one consiousness. I mean, you got a lot of different parts of your brain running with each thought and sensation, yet you are one, and they are part of the whole that makes you.
Also, I don't think "it" would be consiedered insulting unless the machine had been programmed (or, in case of a learning one, conditioned) to see that as insulting.


@RabidWhovian

Dehumanizing is another fun word in this context, since it's not about a human, nor anything thinking in the same ways a human does. Again, it's that kind of word that makes me overthink that sentence more than I probably should.
Thanks also for the tips on how making "them" less grammatically ambigious. And no worries about the German, I intend to figure that one out myself. It's just a side note I added since comparing languages is something I find interesting.
Good luck with your novel!


@Greyjoy

Good points. I especially like the idea of different characters using different pronouns.
I wish I could find more to write about your post, but I can't think of anything to add at the moment. Still, quality post.

depends on how you want your readers and characters to view the robot.

if it's just a robot, then use it.

but if it has a personality, and you want it to be akin to iko from the lunar chronicles (who is an android whose personality chip is very feminine, so she and her companions calls her she), then go with something more human. or do what myhartwilldrogon suggested, and have the robot go from it to they/him/her.

The question you need to ask is if the robot specifically would be offended by "it/its" pronouns. If not, then "it" is fine for narration purposes. If the robot WOULD take offence, use "they/them/their" instead. Using he/they/she pronouns would make more sense in dialogue with characters who are fine with referring to the robot in a humanising way.

(though you may get reader pressure to not use "it" at all. strike up a balance between what makes sense and what people want to see)

Go crazy with Tumblr pronouns and genders. Have it identify as xe/xir/xem, or mec/mecha/mechaself or whatever. Make up your own gender, coward.