Women in AI face greater exposure and less influence
Yasmin London argues that the future of AI needs more women willing to challenge it, because women are disproportionately exposed to AI-driven change while remaining underrepresented among those building the technology. International Labour Organization research found female-dominated occupations are almost twice as likely to be exposed to generative AI as male-dominated occupations, largely because women are concentrated in clerical, administrative and support roles.
Research shows those imbalances can be embedded in the systems themselves. Studies have found AI reproducing gender and age stereotypes in employment, including generating résumés that portrayed women as younger and less experienced than men. Recommendation algorithms have also been shown to amplify misogynistic content to young people, with one study finding the amount of misogynistic content served to experimental TikTok accounts increased fourfold in just five days.
The impact extends to women’s voices and careers. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner found one in three women surveyed had experienced online abuse in a work context, and nearly a quarter of those who experienced abuse were reluctant to move into leadership positions that require a public or media presence, with women reporting concerns not only for themselves but for the safety of their families.
Technology is changing not only jobs and screens but who gets opportunities, whose ideas are amplified, who feels safe speaking publicly, and who gets to participate in shaping our future. London says that once you see these disparities together, they are hard to unsee—and she wants more women to see them too.
You don’t have to work in tech to shape the outcome
London stresses that influencing AI does not require becoming an engineer. If you work in HR and your organisation introduces AI into recruitment, you have a role. If you are an educator deciding how to use AI in the classroom, a manager asked to automate part of your team’s work, a parent watching the technology shape what your children see, or anyone whose work and life are affected by these systems, you have a role.
That role begins with asking questions: What problem are we solving? Who benefits and who carries the risk? What assumptions are embedded in the system, and who might be missing from the data or the decision? Where does human judgement still matter? London argues you do not need to understand every line of code to ask meaningful questions.
Protecting our ability to question
In her book, First Movers: Courageous Leadership for a Human Future in the AI Era, London explores why curiosity, critical thinking and judgement become more important as AI becomes more capable. AI can give an answer in seconds, but that does not remove our responsibility to decide whether it is a good answer.
She recommends a few deliberate first moves: ask what the technology is actually improving and measure the human return as well as speed or efficiency; ask who gains and who bears the risk; and protect human judgement, especially when AI is used around employment, education, safety, wellbeing or someone’s future. Stay curious enough to challenge yourself: if an AI-generated answer does not feel right, check it; if everyone in the room is excited about what a system can do, be the one willing to ask what it should do. London recalls the adage, ‘Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.’
London says she is optimistic about what AI can make possible but does not want women simply to become better consumers of a future decided by others. She wants women to help shape that future, question its assumptions and demand that technological progress delivers a human return through greater safety, opportunity, creativity, access, better decisions and better lives.
About the author: Yasmin London is an international keynote speaker, former NSW Police officer and technology leader, and founder and CEO of First Movers Co. Her new book, First Movers: Courageous Leadership for a Human Future in the AI Era, is a brave, bold and personal case for why courage, not confidence, is where real leadership in life and work begins.
