A growing body of research highlights a stark gender disparity in the adoption of the popular AI tool, ChatGPT.

Original content appeared in The Economist.

Across diverse industries and professions, women are found to be utilizing ChatGPT significantly less than their male counterparts – a gap ranging from 16 to 20 percentage points.

In Denmark, a study examining 100,000 workers across various sectors discovered that this gender divide persisted even among colleagues performing similar tasks within the same company. Norwegian researchers observed a similar pattern among students, with high-achieving female students less inclined to use ChatGPT compared to their male peers, potentially due to self-imposed limitations to avoid “cheating” or taking shortcuts.

Interestingly, hiring managers surveyed expressed an 8% higher preference for high-performing women with AI expertise, suggesting that the mastery of AI tools could potentially benefit women’s career advancement.

As AI continues to permeate the modern workplace, the long-term consequences of this gender gap in ChatGPT adoption remain uncertain. While some experts express concern that AI tools may be increasingly tailored to male users, others contend that it is unclear whether current ChatGPT usage directly correlates with improved productivity. Some posit that high-achieving women might simply be more adept at avoiding distractions.

Head over to The Economist to read the original post.