Women are steering clear of the very technology that threatens them most, as an expert warns of an impending ‘two-tiered AI economy’

(SeaPRwire) –   Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented pace. In just three years, the world has moved from cautiously exploring OpenAI’s ChatGPT to widespread company integration of Anthropic’s Claude Code into their operational processes. The rapid technological and cultural evolution of AI has surprised many, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who cautioned in a substantial January essay that society could face severe consequences within one to two years.

However, experts are highlighting that this swift progress is leaving a crucial demographic behind: women.

Jobs predominantly held by women are three times more susceptible to automation by AI. Despite this vulnerability, women are adopting AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. This disparity is further complicated by the underrepresentation of women in AI leadership and development roles, even as some of the most advanced AI adopters are led by women.

Women Exhibit Greater Hesitation in AI Adoption

Excluding women from this significant technological shift could lead to long-term economic repercussions, according to workplace AI adoption strategist Mara Bolis. She emphasizes that the issue is not a lack of capability but rather a reluctance to engage with the technology.

“This is not a lack of competence,” Bolis stated. “This is discernment, in terms of how we want our economies and our societies to evolve.”

“I’m deeply concerned that we risk creating a two-tiered AI economy if we don’t involve women more actively and truly value the unique skills and expertise they bring to the field, skills that are vital for ensuring AI develops safely and equitably,” Bolis added.

Bolis views this hesitancy as a prudent response to the intense AI hype. Following a period as an economic analyst at the New York Federal Reserve, Bolis dedicated 11 years to advancing women’s economic empowerment at Oxfam. During a 2023 fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, she observed the absence of gender considerations in AI policy discussions. She subsequently founded First Prompt, an inclusive AI adoption initiative that guides businesses globally on addressing and preventing inequitable AI implementation.

Research conducted by Stanford University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that women are less familiar with AI tools and tend to be less persistent when using them. They are also more likely to be concerned about the ethical implications of AI and its potential impact on their employment and financial security.

Women also express less certainty regarding the benefits of AI adoption, according to Beatrice Magistro and Sophie Borwein, assistant professors of political science at Northeastern University and the University of British Columbia, respectively. Their research explored how women’s risk aversion influences their skepticism about AI’s economic advantages.

Regardless of whether their jobs were highly compatible with AI or at risk of automation, women consistently perceived the technology as riskier than men did, Borwein noted.

This caution is well-founded: women face a greater risk of negative repercussions for using AI at work. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that female engineers are subjected to more penalties and are perceived as less competent than their male counterparts, even when producing identical AI-assisted work.

Women’s Jobs Face the Greatest AI Disruption

A Brookings analysis found that out of the 6.1 million workers whose jobs are most vulnerable to AI disruption and least adaptable, 86% are women. These roles, such as administrative assistants, receptionists, and office and legal clerks, are frequently held by older women. While men in highly AI-exposed jobs are more likely to transition to new roles, women are more likely to leave the labor market entirely rather than find alternative employment, according to Brookings.

“Those types of jobs that are really good, middle-class jobs. They’re well-paying jobs, they’re white-collar jobs, and they’re going to go away,” Bolis stated. “They’re going to fall into less well paid, less secure work as that entire sector falls away, unless we focus intentionally on creating policies and programs that help them weather this change.”

While gender disparities in AI usage persist, the gap appears to be narrowing. In 2018, only 12% of machine learning engineers were women, as reported by WIRED. Currently, 30.5% of AI professionals are women, according to researchers at Stanford University.

An OpenAI report from September 2025, which analyzed 1.5 million conversations, indicated that the gap between users with masculine and feminine names was diminishing. In January 2024, the company reported that 37% of users had typically feminine names. By July 2025, this figure had increased to 52%.

Bolis suggests that women are well-positioned to identify shortcomings in AI because they were not involved in its initial development. She advocates for approaching the technology with “fierce ambivalence.”

“People think that [ambivalence] means that you don’t care, which is not what it means at all. It means holding divergent attitudes at once, which I think is very uncomfortable for people,” she explained. “We need to be using AI to empower ourselves and others, while we hold the creators of this technology and the people who are setting up policies and governance to the highest possible standards to ensure that these technologies are rolled out in a way that’s safe and efficient and equitable.”

Both women and men are more inclined to support AI adoption when they are confident that the overall outcomes will be positive, as indicated by Magistro and Borwein’s research.

“This ambivalence is not fixed. Women can lose that ambivalence if they are convinced that the net benefits are there,” Magistro commented.