Mahindra Formula E team faces flack for recruiting AI character ‘Ava Rose’ over an actual female racer
Mahi dra's Formula E team, which recently recruited ex-F1 racer Nyck deVries, is facing major criticism for their recent 'AI partnership'.
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The position of women in motorsports has been one of the most overlooked aspects since the beginning of time. While the Formula 1 franchise with the modern Championship format was inaugurated in 1950s, the pinnacle of motorsports has seen only 5 women take part in it in all these years. And among these handful of women, Lella Lombardi is the only one who achieved success by scoring half a point at the 1975 Spanish GP. Other than Lombardi, all others have failed to score any point and to encourage women’s participation, the FIA had to create the Women in Motorsport Commission in 2009.
Even in Formula E, the situation of female participation is not much promising. Katherine Legge remains the only prominent woman racer in Formula E. And thus, the franchise which works under the FIA–the tule-making body that governs Formula 1–is now attempting to improve their stance on gender inclusivity. As an initiative to promote women in motorsports, the Mahindra Formula E Team has done the absolute unthinkable.
Mahindra have announced their partnership with Ava Rose, an AI figure who has her own page on the popular social media platform Instagram. Her bio says she is a 28-year-old ‘sustainable tech queen and racing rebel robot’ from England. But the fans and many of the prominent figures in the world of racing are not happy with how Mahindra chose an AI character over hiring an actual female racer for becoming their ambassador.
Red Bull Racing endorser takes a dig at Mahindra for recruiting AI racer for PR
The ghastly misrepresentation of female racers in the world of motorsports has been scrutinized by many over the recent times. When Mahindra Racing announced their new ‘AI ambassador’ Ava Rose for their Formula E PR campaign, award-winning motorsport Twitch streamer Ash Vandelay, who is officially linked with Red Bull Racing, called them out.
She took to the comments section of the Instagram post where Mahindra Racing had announced their partnership with Ava Rose, and she spoke her mind.
Motorsport companies/teams will do anything but hire actual women.Ash Vandelay commented, via Instagram.
In other news, Formula 1 has recently seen some scathing remarks being made by F1 Academy Managing Director Susie Wolff as she spoke about misogyny in the racing world. As she was placed on investigation by the FIA for alleged ‘conflict of interest’ with the FOM, she protested against the wrongful charges and claimed they had been made against her because of her gender. Susie also said that she felt ‘deeply insulted but sadly unsurprised’ at the seemingly blatant allegations against her.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)