Women and generative AI: The adoption gap is closing fast, but a trust gap persists
For women to reap the full rewards of gen AI, tech companies should work to increase trust, reduce bias, and strive for more representative workforces
Susanne Hupfer
Bree Matheson
Gillian Crossan
Ariane Bucaille
Jeff Loucks
Deloitte predicts that the experimentation with and use of generative AI by women will equal or exceed that of men in the United States by the end of 2025.1 Although women’s use of gen AI was half that of men’s in 2023, their pace of adoption suggests they’re likely to reach parity within the next year.2 While this parity prediction is for the United States, the gen AI gender gap is a global phenomenon: In European countries, where the use of gen AI has been surveyed, our analysis not only identified significant gender adoption differences but also revealed that women are making up ground rapidly.3 These countries will likely close the adoption gender gap within the next two years—and the global challenges and opportunities for adoption will likely mirror the US findings.
Despite accelerating their gen AI adoption, women express less trust than men that gen AI providers will keep their data secure.4 This “technology trust gap” could inhibit women’s regular use of the technology and full participation in new gen AI applications, as well as slow down their future purchasing of gen AI products and services. To help overcome this trust gap, tech companies should enhance their data security, implement clearer data management practices, and provide greater data control.
AI model bias can also have a negative impact on trust.5 Women constitute less than one-third of the AI workforce,6 and most AI workers feel that AI will produce biased results as long as their field continues to be male dominated.7 Increasing women’s presence in the field can help reduce gender bias in AI, as well as give women a greater role in steering the future of the technology.
The gen AI adoption gap is closing rapidly
Recent Deloitte research has highlighted a gender gap in generative AI adoption across various geographies. For the past two years, the Deloitte Connected Consumer Survey has investigated the adoption of gen AI by US consumers as part of its research into digital life.8 Our analysis revealed that women in the United States have been lagging in taking up this emerging technology (figure 1): In 2023, women’s adoption of gen AI was roughly half that of men (11% of women reported experimenting with gen AI or using it for projects and tasks beyond experimentation, vs. 20% of men). In 2024, the same survey revealed that gen AI adoption overall had more than doubled, but the gender gap remained: Thirty-three percent of women surveyed reported using or experimenting with gen AI, vs. 44% of men.
The gen AI gender gap has been noted in other geographies too: Deloitte UK’s 2024 Digital Consumer Trends survey of UK consumers reported that 28% of women were using gen AI, vs. 43% of men.9 Analysis of this study, as well as Deloitte UK’s European study on gen AI and trust, revealed double-digit differences between women’s and men’s adoption of gen AI in 12 additional European countries.10
In the United States, women are rapidly closing the adoption gap. In the past year, the proportion of US women surveyed who have adopted gen AI tripled—outpacing the 2.2x rate of growth for men.11 Analysis of current adoption levels and these rates of growth allows Deloitte to predict that the proportion of women experimenting with and using gen AI for projects and tasks will match or surpass that of men in the United States by the end of 2025.12
Full engagement may be harder to achieve
While the trend is encouraging, reaching adoption parity won’t automatically ensure that women will incorporate gen AI into their everyday workflows. Indeed, among gen AI users surveyed in Deloitte’s 2024 Connected Consumer Survey, 34% of women say they use the technology at least once a day, vs. 43% of men.13 And among gen AI users who reported using it for professional tasks, 41% of women currently feel that gen AI substantially boosts their productivity, vs. 61% of men.14 Tech companies and other organizations looking to benefit from using gen AI should heed these differences and take active steps to improve women’s engagement.
The contrasts between genders may stem partly from a striking difference in perspective on trust.15 As women progress from familiarity with gen AI into experimentation and use, negative emotions of uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and confusion diminish, while positive feelings of fascination, excitement, surprise, and trust grow (figure 2).16 However, at both the experimentation and project and task use levels, women’s feelings of trust toward the technology are significantly lower than men’s, and their feelings of uncertainty remain higher. Indeed, only 18% of women surveyed who are experimenting with or using generative AI indicated having “high” or “very high” trust that the providers of the gen AI capabilities they use will keep their data secure—whereas, for male adopters, that number has reached 31%.17
The trust gap is not unique to gen AI, but extends to broader tech services and interactions: While 54% of women surveyed in Deloitte’s 2024 Connected Consumer Survey agree that the benefits they get from online services outweigh their data privacy concerns (an improvement from 46% in 2023), more men agree (62%).18 Last year, we reported that women are more wary than men about how their personal data is used and protected and that it was affecting their willingness to share data, particularly when it comes to sensitive health and fitness metrics.19 Women may perceive the potential consequences of a security breach or data misuse as more significant.20
The growing popularity of generative AI may exacerbate these longstanding issues around data privacy and tech.21 As users interact with gen AI, the systems may feed users’ data back into their AI models—and experts say it’s not necessarily clear or easy to opt out of having one’s data used for AI training.22 As consumers start to converse with gen AI for advice on sensitive, personal topics, the data privacy and security stakes grow. Indeed, the trust gap around data privacy and security may underpin the differences we’re seeing between women’s and men’s levels of interest in having a variety of gen AI experiences in the future (figure 3).23 Surveyed women are somewhat less interested than men in interacting with gen AI on less-sensitive topics (such as travel, shopping, fitness, and nutrition), but they are substantially less interested than men in engaging with gen AI around more sensitive topics (such as personal finances and relationships, and medical or mental health issues).
The trust gap may also contribute to less excitement among women to purchase new gen AI technologies. Tech companies are beginning to sell laptops, tablets, and smartphones with embedded AI chips designed to improve functionality (for example, summarizing information in real time, generating photos and videos, and instantly translating foreign languages).24 When Deloitte’s 2024 Connected Consumer Survey asked whether new AI functionality will have any effect on their plans to upgrade devices, fewer women said they’re likely to upgrade their devices sooner compared to men.25 For example, while 43% of men with smartphones said embedded AI would make them very or somewhat likely to upgrade their phone sooner than planned, only 32% of women said the same (conversely, 58% of women said it would have no effect on their upgrade plans, vs. 50% of men). And when it comes to laptops, 41% of men said on-device AI would make them very or somewhat likely to upgrade those devices sooner, vs. 28% of women. With women controlling or influencing an estimated 85% of consumer spending, their lower enthusiasm for upgrading to devices with AI could pose an issue for tech providers.26
The trust gap is not the only factor holding women back from maximizing their use of gen AI. Women gen AI users surveyed are less likely to feel that their company actively encourages their use of the technology at work (61% of women users feel this way, vs. 83% of men).27 And while 49% of women gen AI users say that their company invests in training employees on how to use generative AI, that falls short of the 79% of men reporting the same. Whether these numbers reflect differences in perception or actual experiences with access to training programs and encouragement in the workplace, companies should pay heed and work to close the gaps.
Women in tech are forging ahead with gen AI—but better representation is needed
In the tech industry, there is a different story about gen AI adoption entirely—and women working in tech may hold clues for fostering greater gen AI engagement by women overall in the future. Not surprisingly, the industry creating AI products and services has higher levels of gen AI adoption among its employees: In Deloitte’s 2024 Connected Consumer Survey, 70% of women and 78% of men working in the tech industry reported experimenting with gen AI or using it for projects or tasks—far outpacing nontech women (32%) and men (40%).28 What may be more surprising is that women working in the tech industry appear to be moving beyond gen AI experimentation and into using it for projects and tasks faster than their male counterparts (44% vs. 33%). And both groups are anticipating greater benefits: About 7 in 10 women and men working in tech expect their use of gen AI to “substantially boost” their productivity at work a year from now.29
What’s more, there’s no notable trust gap between tech women and men. Both groups have greater trust in generative AI than adopters overall: More than 40% of tech women and men using or experimenting with gen AI reported having “high” or “very high” trust that gen AI providers will keep their data secure.30 In both groups, 75% of those surveyed agree that the benefits they get from online services outweigh their privacy concerns—vs. just 54% of women and 60% of men working outside tech.31 It’s likely that women in the tech industry have a better understanding of how gen AI works than nontech workers, and that their heavier professional use of gen AI has increased their comfort level and shown them how they can benefit from the technology. Moreover, most tech women who use gen AI reported that their companies encourage its use (84%) and provide training (72%)—in contrast, among women using gen AI in other industries, far fewer reported that their companies encourage its use (55%) or provide training (45%).32
Despite the greater adoption of AI by women in the tech industry, there’s a relative lack of women working in AI roles. Women only make up about 30% of the AI-related workforce, which is comparable to their representation in STEM fields overall.33 This underrepresentation of women in AI could have serious implications for the development and deployment of AI systems across various domains and sectors.
One of the major challenges posed by the relative lack of women in the AI workforce is the risk of perpetuating gender bias against women in AI applications.34 As many as 44% of AI systems across industries exhibit gender bias, which can negatively affect outputs from AI systems in ways that continue to marginalize and underrepresent women.35 For instance, gender bias in AI can lead to bias in hiring practices,36 lower quality health care,37 and reduced access to financial services for women.38 And Deloitte research has shown that bias in AI models can erode employee and customer trust.39 Bringing more women into AI jobs can be crucial for achieving gender equality and ensuring that AI benefits society.40
Bottom line
There are several reasons why tech companies should work toward increasing women’s engagement with gen AI. First, with women controlling or influencing most consumer purchasing, failing to get women on board with frequent gen AI use could increase the risk that AI products and services won’t achieve their expected potential. Second, if women don’t engage with gen AI tools as fully as male employees, companies could risk not achieving the productivity gains they might expect to see after investing in gen AI. And, because gen AI depends upon collecting and building upon interaction data, the underrepresentation of women’s interactions could exacerbate biases in AI models.41 Finally, if women don’t participate in emerging gen AI use cases as fully as they could, that may keep them from maximizing future tech benefits (for example, advantages of chatbot interventions in medical or mental health) and deepen existing inequities.42
To help bolster women’s trust in gen AI, tech companies should work to address the potential risks associated with the technology. Deloitte’s 2024 Connected Consumer Survey found that earning trust may depend at least partially on improving the transparency of tech companies’ data privacy and security policies, as well as making it easier for consumers to control their personal data.43 Tech companies should consider prioritizing robust data security measures and communicating their data-handling practices more effectively. Making it simpler for consumers to understand what data gets collected and how it’s used, along with providing easier ways to control that use (such as prompting users at appropriate points to make informed choices about the use of their data) may not only build trust but could also confer a competitive advantage. But it’s not just tech companies that should pay heed to potential gen AI risks: Eighty-four percent of survey respondents believe that governments should do more to regulate the way companies collect and use consumer data.44
Across industries, companies that want to achieve full use of gen AI by men and women workers should take care to encourage the use of gen AI capabilities. Beyond various popular professional use cases—document editing, web searches, summarizing materials, and research assistance—companies can embrace industry-specific ways to use generative AI.45 Maximizing the use of gen AI by employees may require establishing training programs.
Striving for full consumer engagement in generative AI is a commendable objective, but it may be more difficult to achieve without equitable representation among the people who develop generative AI technologies. To increase the diversity and inclusion of women in AI roles, companies should consider focusing on creating workplaces that meet the needs of those they employ. For example, a study of women in AI noted that work/life balance is the most important factor for their job satisfaction, which includes elements such as having a flexible working schedule or being able to work remotely.46 Women also reported looking for jobs with women in leadership, transparency around pay and promotions, and zero-tolerance policies for harassment and abuse.47 Attracting more women to the field may also involve providing more education and training opportunities for women to learn AI skills and competencies. It could also be beneficial to create more mentorship and networking programs that allow women in AI to share their experiences and support one another, and to provide funding for more women to participate in AI research and innovation projects. As women’s role in developing gen AI grows, it’s likely that there will be applications and systems that engage all women more.
