Unveiling Neuronormative Bias: Exposing an Unconscious Bias in Generative AI and Their Impact on Neurodivergent People

Abstract

Algorithms are increasingly dominating our world – it is the algorithmisation of our lives. In our daily lives, we use digital technologies that are often enriched with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, which are supposed to optimise our lives. Although the idea of a computer-based intelligence that can simulate our human cognitive abilities is a noble goal, one that the great British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing (Turing, 1 1950) already envisaged, we see current AI-based algorithms more as a mirror of our imperfect world, which is characterised by prejudice, injustice, inequality and unfairness. This article highlights inequalities against an often overlooked intersectional group in our society – neurominorities – that are increasingly exacerbated by implemented biases in AI systems, which we call neuronormative bias.