Women Use AI Less as Industry Representation Gap Persists

Women were more likely than men to say they rarely or never use artificial intelligence, and the study found they’re less represented in AI news coverage and leadership roles. Released Oct. 14 by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, the study compared survey answers with anonymized browsing data from U.S. adults.

Use and Trust

Fifty-seven percent of women said they had never used AI or used AI tools rarely, compared with 43% of men. Women rated their average concern about AI at 6.4 out of 10; men’s average was 5.9.

Men reported more curiosity about AI, with an average score of 5.8 out of 10, while women averaged 4.9. The survey of U.S. adults took place in July, and the browsing data covered July 2024 to August 2026.

“Women, pretty much across the board — from the workforce, encouragement, and training, to how they’re represented in the media, to their trust — are consistently underrepresented,” said Laura Manley, executive director of the Shorenstein Center. “I was surprised that it was so, frankly, holistic across so many critical elements of the pipeline.”

Gender equity researcher Amy Diehl told USA TODAY that women’s trust could worsen as AI expands “unless companies start hiring women into AI decision-making and design roles — and taking their input.” Previous research cited in the article found that women are less represented in AI and that AI is more likely to be biased against women. Chatbots, for example, often rank males as more intelligent and more often depict male leaders as role models.

Representation in the Industry and News

Women made up 26% of AI hires in the United States last year and held 13% of C-suite AI roles globally, according to the article. The study also examined more than 75,000 U.S. news articles about AI published between July 2025 and June 2026. It found significantly less representation of women in the industry.

Men accounted for 93.6% of headline mentions in the sampled articles, compared with 6.4% for women. Women made up fewer than 10% of sources cited as authorities on AI.

Anthropic president Daniela Amodei had the highest recognition rate among women in the study, at 49%. The least-recognized men, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, each had a 50% recognition rate. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had the highest name recognition, at 85%, while Stanford computer science professor Fei Fei Li was recognized 46% of the time.

In 2016, Li told Bloomberg Professional Services: “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.” The study said that pattern persisted 10 years later. “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,” Manley said.

Skepticism, Risk and Opportunity

The study found that women’s occupations globally face greater exposure to AI automation than men’s: 4.7% compared with 2.4%. A report from the National Girls Collaborative Projects this year found that women earn 23% of all computer science bachelor's degrees. The Grace Hopper Celebration, described as the largest tech conference for women, was canceled Oct. 13 because of a lack of sponsors and funding.

“Women trust AI less than men and for good reason,” Diehl said. She cited privacy risks, occupational concerns and price increases, adding that women face disproportionate risks because they’re “largely not at the table when designing AI tools.”

Men answered factual questions about AI more accurately on average, with 7.1 correct answers out of 12, compared with 6.3 for women. Women selected “not sure” an average of four times out of 12 questions, compared with 2.9 times for men. Manley said uncertainty “does not mean that women don’t have the skills or they’re not competent in AI.” She said people can conflate women’s skepticism with a lack of ability or confidence, though women may simply be less likely to offer a strong opinion in mainstream discussion.

The study found that 20% of women said women were more likely to be treated unfairly by AI, while 17% of men said men were more likely to be treated unfairly. Forty-two percent of women were unsure whether AI treats any group unfairly, compared with 31% of men. Manley said the report wasn’t advocating that everyone use AI more, and noted “there’s lots of situations where AI isn’t the right call,” including criticism of AI use in classrooms as destructive for students.