How UN’s women-only AI school wants to tackle gender inequality in AI

Published on 22/08/2025 - 11:10 GMT+2

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes nan world astatine breakneck speed, economists person raised concerns complete women and girls being near behind.

Women are some underrepresented and misrepresented successful nan datasets that train AI systems and moreover less are progressive successful designing them.

They are besides astatine a higher consequence of losing their jobs than men.

A study published earlier this year by nan United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Poland's National Research Institute of nan Ministry of Digital Affairs (NASK) recovered that AI could switch conscionable nether 10 per cent of female-dominated positions successful high-income countries, compared to nan 3.5 per cent it could switch for men.

Experts person urged governments, employees, and workers’ organisations to style "inclusive strategies" that could thief protect occupation value and productivity successful endangered fields.

To tackle this gender inequality successful AI, nan UN Entity for Gender Equality and nan Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is bringing women backmost into nan schoolroom pinch an “AI school” it launched earlier this year.

The online programme is designed to thief entrepreneurs, academics, “feminist leaders,” ambiance justness activists, and different professionals successful Asia and nan Pacific region study to usage AI for societal change, advocacy, and decision-making.

“The AI School came retired from that urgent request … to do thing astir nan improvement of AI and to make judge that women and girls are not near behind,” said Emad Karim, nan AI School’s founder.

According to UN Women, location is simply a gender spread successful AI knowledge and representation.

Additionally, astir half of nan 133 AI systems nan agency analysed exhibited gender bias, which whitethorn perpetuate accepted gender roles aliases stereotypes.

There is besides antheral power successful nan creation of AI systems, arsenic astir AI engineers are men, Karim said.

“Women and girls are almost invisible successful this sector,” Karim said.

Building AI literacy

Karim advises women to go “AI literate”.

“This is nan caller literacy. Know nan models, nan strengths, nan risks. We shouldn’t spot AI blindly, nor cull it outright,” he said.

The AI School’s program covers everything from AI fundamentals to morals to applicable topics specified arsenic punctual engineering.

The goal, Karim said, is besides to hole women for a shifting occupation market wherever AI is expected to displace aliases destruct immoderate jobs and play a bigger domiciled successful others

“The early of AI depends connected us, connected whether we creation it for equality, justice, and dignity, aliases fto it widen nan gaps we’re trying to close,” he said.

The UN is not nan only group moving connected this issue. In 2020, nan European Commission launched nan Girls Go Circular programme, which intends to springiness 50,000 schoolgirls integer and activity skills.

But nan challenges whitethorn beryllium excessively ample for initiatives for illustration these to adjacent nan AI gender spread alone, and immoderate advocates judge companies should do nan dense lifting.

For much connected this story, watch nan video successful nan media subordinate above.

Video editor • Roselyne Min