Recently, a study conducted jointly by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and Harvard University has garnered widespread attention. This study investigated the usage of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly focusing on the gender disparities in participation within this field. The findings reveal that globally, the proportion of women using generative AI is significantly lower than that of men.
Image source note: The image was generated by AI, provided by the image licensing service Midjourney.
The research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of 16 studies on gender-related usage of generative AI, covering 100,000 respondents from 26 countries. The results indicate that men use AI more frequently than women across all regions, industries, and professions. This phenomenon is prevalent across various social contexts and even under conditions of equal opportunity, women's willingness to use AI remains lower than men's.
In various groups, such as Kenyan businesspeople, Norwegian business students, and American university students, the study shows that men's AI usage rates are 25% higher than women's. The only group where men and women have relatively similar usage rates is among tech workers in the United States, where their use of generative AI is roughly equal.
Additionally, the study found that the traffic to popular AI websites also exhibits a male-biased trend. Data shows that from November 2022 to May 2024, women accounted for only 42% of users on platforms like ChatGPT, 42.4% on Perplexity, 39.6% on Midjourney, and a mere 31.2% on Anthropic.
Interestingly, even when equal usage opportunities are provided, men's frequency of use still surpasses that of women. For instance, in a survey of 17,000 Facebook users in Kenya, researchers provided equal access to ChatGPT, yet women still used it less than men. Specifically, among small business entrepreneurs in Kenya, women were 14% less likely than men to seek AI advice on WhatsApp.
This study not only highlights the gender gap in the use of generative AI but also provides new perspectives and data support for future related research.
Key points:
🌍 Globally, the proportion of women using generative AI is significantly lower than that of men.
📊 Men's AI usage rates are generally higher than women's across all countries and industries, with a gap of up to 25%.
💻 Even under conditions of equal opportunity, women are less proactive in using generative AI tools than men.