Risk aversion and less exposure will be central reasons. Women show more uncertainty and skepticism than men.
Artificial Intelligence (IA) took over countless companies, convinced many people even outside the work context – but convinced men more than women.
As women are more hesitantdistance themselves more from AI than men.
Firstly, because they are more risk averse. Secondly because they are more frequent targets, for example, of deepfakes sexually explicit.
According to several studies, there are 25% fewer women than men apply AI tools; and the rate of female AI professionals on the planet is even slightly lower.
But why? A new one from Northeastern University looked for answers.
And the basis is really this: the risk.
Around 3 thousand inhabitants of Canada and the USA participated in the study. Two main reasons for this difference were identified: risk tolerance and risk exposure.
Women were, in general, more “risk averse” than men: they would rather receive 842 euros, guaranteed, than accept a 50% chance of receiving double or nothing.
Regarding attitudes towards AI specifically, women were about 11% more likely than men to say that risks outweighed the benefitscontinues.
When asked about the risks and benefits of AI, women have more uncertainty and skepticism compared to men.
However, this difference disappeared when the uncertainty element also disappeared. That is, the Uncertainty is a central factor in women leaving.
In this same study, less risk-averse women had similar skepticism about AI as men.
If AI guaranteed job gains, women and men would respond positively.
“Basically, When women are clear about the effects on employment, the gender gap in support for AI disappears”, says professor Beatrice Magistro.
“Therefore, everything indicates that The problem is uncertainty aversion”, reinforces the researcher.
And then there is the economic factor, the economic risks: “Women face greater exposure to AI both in high-complementarity roles, which can benefit from AI, and in high-substitutability roles, at risk of being replaced, although the long-term consequences of AI remain fundamentally uncertain,” according to the researchers.
AI must not leave women behind, warns the research team.
