PUBLIC POLICY CONVERSATIONS – FEBRUARY 2025
Questions about why women are less likely to use Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) were being debated in business publications as the New Year rolled in. Artificial Intelligence adopters are disproportionately men, a disconnect that could exacerbate the gender pay gap, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. A July Federal Reserve Bank of New York consumer survey found the existence of “an economically and statistically significant A.I. gender gap.” In the early days of the Internet, it was men who dominated. More recently, research shows that women are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to use financial technology – or fintech – products. But the generative A.I. gap is noteworthy because of the extent to which this particular technology is already radically and rapidly transforming the labor market.
A Goldman Sachs forecast predicts that A.I. could automate up to the equivalent of 300 million full time jobs globally over 10 years. Analysis by economists at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) looking at self-reported data, shows the A.I. gender gap may be explained by varying levels of trust in technology. “Women are generally more concerned about the negative consequences of sharing data,” they wrote, while men “see greater benefits for their job opportunities and lower risks from the use of gen A.I.” Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of the world’s largest employment agency Randstad, told Businessweek, “The way technology is today you can’t afford to check out. Pay should be based on productivity. And A.I. – simply put – is a productivity booster.”
The jobs most likely to be disrupted by generative A.I.–or even render redundant–are also the jobs disproportionately held by women. Analysis done last year by the UNC Kenan Flagler Business School found that eight out of 10 women or about 59 million individuals in the US workforce, are in occupations that are “highly exposed to generative A.I. automation, compared to about six out of 10 men.” Top of the list of exposed jobs are office and administrative support roles. Authors of the UNC analysis wrote, “As the saying goes, you won’t be replaced by A.I. You will be replaced by someone who knows A.I.” But empowering women with digital literacy could potentially be a really important way of closing the gen A.I. gap. The issue is, learning something new takes time, Heather McCullough, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, said. “And time is not something that many women have in abundance.” she added, “The truth is, regardless of gender, gen A.I. can be a massive tool for economic mobility…I just hope that women recognize that. The potential is too big to ignore.”
At the end of November a Deloitte report found the share of women using or experimenting with generative A.I. had tripled in 2024 from the prior year, compared to a 2.2 times increase for men. This helped narrow the gender gap. Deloitte’s authors predicted that despite the persistent generative A.I. gender divide, women are poised to eclipse men in its use – as early as 2025 in some countries. Businessweek’s reporter for this story is Josie Cox, author of “Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality.”
Lilly Gioia