Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Krutrim (AI chatbot), recently stirred up the internet, sharing his thoughts on what he termed the ‘pronoun illness’. It all started when the LinkedIn AI bot referred to him as ‘They’ instead of ‘He’. With a screenshot showcasing the ‘they/their’ circles, he took a swipe at these practices, labeling them as borrowed from Western culture. He sounded the alarm about multinational companies inadvertently spreading this ‘pronoun illness’ among unsuspecting Indians.
Expressing his hope that this ‘pronoun illness’ doesn’t become a thing in India, Aggarwal highlighted how many ‘big city schools’ are now embracing this trend, even creeping into CVs. “Need to know where to draw the line in following the West blindly!” he exclaimed, voicing concerns about how Western culture influences most LLM-based chatbots.
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“(The) screenshot is from LinkedIn’s AI bot. This “pronouns illness” is being perpetuated in India by MNCs without us Indians even realising it,” cautioned the OLA co-founder. “Better to send this illness back where it came from. Our culture has always had respect for all. No need for new pronouns,” he concluded.
Hoping that this “pronoun illness” doesn’t reach India.Many “big city schools” in India are now teaching it to kids. Also see many CVs with pronouns these days. Need to know where to draw the line in following the west blindly! pic.twitter.com/q4CwiV6dkE
— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) May 5, 2024
However, his post took an unexpected turn as it went viral for all the wrong reasons, with people quickly criticising his stance. “I disagree with you here. This doesn’t hurt anyone and do you really think having pronouns on CVs would impact your decision to hire an individual?” queried one user.
Another pointed out the linguistic aspect, saying, “Hindi mein jab “unhein”, “unke”, “unse” jaise shabdon ka badon ke liye prayog kiya jata hai, to uska angrezi mein anuvaad kya hota? Aise to hai nahi ki our culture hasn’t had an equivalent of “they/them” pronouns in languages like Hindi. So you’re really just saying you have an issue only when a tool uses these to prevent misgendering?”
A third chimed in, emphasising, “Respecting pronouns is a basic act of decency, not an illness. Using someone’s correct pronouns is the bare minimum, to respect LGBTQ+ folks.”
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And the criticisms kept rolling in, with some even hinting at the irony of Aggarwal’s stance given Ola’s own roots in Western-inspired business models.
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