AI's Gender Gap Leaves Women Facing Greater Risks

A study released Oct. 14 by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School found that women are less represented in AI jobs and public coverage of the industry, while their occupations face greater exposure to AI automation than men’s.

The study compared survey responses from U.S. adults in July with anonymized browsing data collected from July 2024 to August 2026. Fifty-seven percent of women said they’d never used AI or used AI tools rarely, compared with 43% of men. Women rated their concern about AI at 6.4 out of 10; men averaged 5.9. Men reported greater curiosity, averaging 5.8, while women averaged 4.9.

Who Designs AI

“Women trust AI less than men and for good reason,” gender equity researcher Amy Diehl told USA TODAY. “Since they are largely not at the table when designing AI tools, they suffer disproportionate risks,” including privacy risks, occupational concerns and price increases.

The study found that women made up 26% of AI hires in the United States and held 13% of C-suite AI roles globally. Women also earn 23% of all computer science bachelor's degrees, according to a report from the National Girls Collaborative Projects this year.

Diehl said trust could worsen as AI expands unless companies hire women for AI decision-making and design roles and take their input. The study describes the gap in participation alongside risks to women, but doesn’t report a government policy or enforcement action addressing it.

Who Gets Seen

Researchers examined more than 75,000 U.S. news articles about AI published between July 2025 and June 2026. They found significantly less representation of women in the industry. Men accounted for 93.6% of headline mentions; women accounted for 6.4%. Women made up fewer than 10% of sources cited as authorities on AI.

Anthropic president Daniela Amodei was recognized 49% of the time, the highest rate for any woman in the study. The least-recognized men, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, were each recognized 50% of the time. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had the highest name recognition, at 85%. Stanford computer science professor Fei Fei Li, often called the “Godmother of AI,” was recognized 46% of the time.

“If you were a computer and read all the AI articles and extracted out the names that are quoted, I guarantee you that women rarely show up,” Li told Bloomberg Professional Services in 2016. The study found that the disparity in media representation persisted.

“The more women are underrepresented in the media, the more difficult it is for women to see themselves represented and have an advocate on the other side,” said Laura Manley, executive director of the Shorenstein Center. Manley said women were underrepresented across workforce participation, encouragement and training, media representation and trust.

Unequal Exposure, Unequal Access

Globally, women’s occupations face more exposure to AI automation than men’s: 4.7% compared with 2.4%. The study also found men answered more factual questions about AI correctly, averaging 7.1 out of 12, compared with 6.3 for women. Women selected “not sure” an average of four times out of 12 questions; men did so 2.9 times.

“Uncertainty in selecting 'not sure' doesn’t mean that women don't have the skills or they're not competent in AI,” Manley said. She said women’s skepticism is sometimes treated as a lack of ability or confidence, though women may simply be less likely to offer a strong opinion on AI in mainstream discussion.

The largest tech conference for women, the Grace Hopper Celebration, ended up canceled Oct. 13 because of a lack of sponsors and funding. Manley said the report wasn’t intended to argue that women and everyone else should use AI more, but to surface disparities in representation and opportunity. She also said there are situations where AI isn’t the right choice, including classrooms, where its use has drawn criticism as destructive for students.