Will Generative-AI Take Female Jobs?

Uploaded on 2024-02-27 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, JOBS-Careers, FREE TO VIEW

Workplace Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly increasing and female workers are concerned that this technology could place them at a higher risk of redundancy than their male counterparts according to new research from Code First Girls.

The release of generative AI products such as ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard, Midjourney and others, which allow anyone to use prompts to generate text, images, music or video for business or personal use, have made AI technology much more widely available.

In this respect, Generative AI (Gen-AI) threatens to become very disruptive for many industries, offering new ways to automate tasks, increase productivity and improve quality. While this technology will create new job opportunities and economic growth, the potential for Gen- AI to automate tasks in existing jobs will have an impact on many hitherto secure jobs.

These include changes in job tasks and professional roles, the need to learn new skills to remain competitive which will, according to some estimates, eliminate as many as 40% of all jobs.

The rise of generative AI has for long been criticised for its potential impact on the job market, as people fear losing their jobs or seeing the most valuable parts of their daily tasks automated by computer systems. The GirslCodeFirst survey found that more than 80% of technology sector workers are using ChatGPT at work across a variety of roles, including content creation, graphic design, and copywriting.

Of these, 60% percent say they are using it mainly to improve productivity, with half saying it helps them work faster. But this increase in the use of generative AI tools has also given rise to fears over the potential impact of the technology on female staff.

Around 25% of workers said they believe the use of AI will “push women out of the workforce” while nearly half agreed that the potential imbalance in tech will result in biased or discriminatory AI models. When it comes to recruitment, researchers said unintentional bias in AI models and algorithm development can result in a lack of diversity amongst shortlisted candidates, as a consequence of using male-dominated training data.

A recent Goldman Sachs report showed that the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs in the US and Europe being at risk of automation because of the disruptive technology. The danger lies not just in the significant loss of employment, but that the impact on jobs will be unequal.

The CEO of Code First Girls, Anna Brailsford, said "The development of AI continues to demonstrate useful applications across a variety of industries and sectors. However, by not prioritising diversity in its development, we risk building models that are inherently discriminatory against race and gender minorities,”

This research highlights growing concerns amongst female tech workers that the emergence of generative AI tools could have a negative impact on their careers.

Code First Girls | IT Pro | Euro News | Goldman Sachs | Patricia Gestoso

Kenan Institute | Insurtech Insights | Code First Girls | LinkedIn

Image: Kindel Media

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