# ChatGPT Is More Likely to Be Perceived as Male Than Female

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.12564 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.12564/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 0 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 May 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Who is ChatGPT? Benchmarking LLMs' Psychological Portrayal Using PsychoBench](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01386/) (2023)
- [ComPO: Community Preferences for Language Model Personalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.16027/) (2024)
- [Do Language Models Mirror Human Confidence? Exploring Psychological Insights to Address Overconfidence in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00582/) (2025)
- [I Am Not Them: Fluid Identities and Persistent Out-group Bias in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10436/) (2024)
- [Gender Dynamics and Homophily in a Social Network of LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.02606/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We investigate how people perceive ChatGPT, and, in particular, how they assign human-like attributes such as gender to the chatbot. Across five pre-registered studies (N = 1,552), we find that people are more likely to perceive ChatGPT to be male than female. Specifically, people perceive male gender identity (1) following demonstrations of ChatGPT's core abilities (e.g., providing information or summarizing text), (2) in the absence of such demonstrations, and (3) across different methods of eliciting perceived gender (using various scales and asking to name ChatGPT). Moreover, we find that this seemingly default perception of ChatGPT as male can reverse when ChatGPT's feminine-coded abilities are highlighted (e.g., providing emotional support for a user).