A Flirty Chatbot Is What You Get With So Few Women in Tech
The company building AI for humanity has a problem when less than a fifth of its researchers are women.
Real women have much to offer too.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
It was hard not to cringe at the demo of ChatGPT’s latest upgrade. Instead of showcasing a chatbot that sounded more reliable, OpenAI gave the world one that hit all the notes of an obsequious female, giggling at the antics of its male researchers and praising their outfits. The resulting outrage over the voice’s similarity to Scarlett Johansson missed a deeper point. The world’s leading AI builders are creating software that reinforces stereotypes about women. And there’s a big reason why: There are simply too few of them involved.
At OpenAI, just 18% of staff working on the development of its technology are women, according to data collected for Bloomberg Opinion by business intelligence firm Glass.ai, which used machine-learning technology to scrutinize tech-company websites and thousands of LinkedIn profiles of AI-focused employees.1 The creator of ChatGPT was the worst among other leading firms in the survey, conducted in May 2024.