Women Entrepreneurs and AI: Bridging the Gap

“I see AI as a powerful tool to help transform businesses, freeing us to focus on creative storytelling. We’re entering an era of limitless possibilities.”
-Gretchen Libby, Director, Specialties Media & Entertainment, Games & Sports, AWS

AI is everywhere. The impact it is having not only on our daily lives but also that of corporations and industries at large is undeniable. To stay current with evolving trends and remain competitive, women entrepreneurs must prioritize understanding AI and exploring the opportunities it presents to strengthen and grow their business pursuits. An AI gender gap has already unfolded in front of our very eyes. Gemma Allen spoke to this disparity in her recent Forbes article, “The AI Gender Gap Isn’t About Skills. Girls Who Code’s New CEO Explains.” A timely and unfortunate manifestation of this gap is evident from last week’s AI briefing held at the White House, wherein of the 31 participants, two were women.

“The companies and investors directing the future of artificial intelligence remain overwhelmingly male. Women account for 26% of U.S. AI hires and only 13% of AI leadership roles globally, according to LinkedIn data reported by Forbes.”

Susan Gouijnstook, CEO of Girls Who Code, is stressing the importance of AI agency for women and girls, as opposed to simply AI literacy. Arming the girls growing up in this age of AI with the skills and confidence needed to not shy away from this ever-changing landscape is critical.

“Girls Who Code’s latest research points to a concept it calls ‘AI agency.’ In its newly released Agency in the Age of AI report, the organization surveyed more than 2,300 young people about their values, concerns and sense of control in relation to AI. They found that the girls who felt they had agency were more likely to use AI at higher rates than boys, and more likely to both recognize its potential and assess its flaws. ‘Once you build that confidence in them, then they become active users and critical users instead of passive respondents,’ she said.”

For women entrepreneurs, the rise of AI represents an urgent challenge as well as vast potential. Closing the AI gender gap will require more than teaching women how to use new technologies. It will require empowering them to shape, question, lead, and innovate within an AI-driven world. By developing AI agency alongside AI literacy, women can move from adapting to it to creating it. Women need not only a seat at the table, but the comfortability to speak up once they are there. wegg® is here to help you stay on the pulse as the new age of technology, business, and globalization is upon us. Let’s find the path forward together.