Gender bias at the professional workforce in Ireland, according to AI

Recent research conducted by Legacy Communications explored how AI-generated images exhibit a troubling gender bias when tasked with creating workplace images. 

To conduct the research, Legacy Communications used an AI natural language processing tool to generate prompts that were fed into an AI image generator to create images of typical professional roles.

The language processing tool was asked to describe different job roles, with the prompts being carefully crafted to avoid any potential bias that would influence the image. 

The prompt created by the AI NLP tool was then pasted into an AI image generation tool, which was asked to produce specific images based on the given prompt. 

On exploring further, the team at Legacy found that the AI image generation tool associated leadership roles such as "CEO", "Boss", "Entrepreneur", "Pilot", and "Manager" with white males, consistently depicting them in professional attire, wearing dark or neutral clothing. 

Contrary to this, according to AI-generated images, women do not occupy leadership positions, especially in C Suite leadership positions. 

When prompted to create an image of a CEO, CFO, COO & CIO, the AI image tool created two images of men for each position. Female images were only created for the positions of CMO and CHRO. 

In 2023, the percentage of female members on the Board of Directors in Ireland rose to 25%, up from nearly 22% in 2021, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Despite this progress, the AI image tool continues to portray high-ranking positions as male-dominated, with the gender bias extending to professions like "Lawyer", "Judge", "Engineer", and "Accountant", which, in all cases, the tool only generated male images, even though the latest data shows that women occupy 48% of roles in the accounting industry in Ireland for example. 

This tendency to predominantly show males in high-ranking positions raises concerns about how it might influence society's perception of jobs typically associated with men and women in 2024.

However, Grant Thornton's research reveals a 10% year-on-year increase in the number of women in senior management roles in Ireland. 

Mícheál Brennan, Head of Digital at Legacy Communications, said: "As we prompted the tool, we noticed a pattern in the way the AI image generator portrayed different professional roles, with gender and racial bias clearly being exhibited by the tool."

Also commenting on the findings, Lauren Duggan, Co-founder of Riley, a company that supplies Eco Friendly period products, said: "The gender bias exhibited by AI in depicting leadership roles is not just a technological flaw; it has real-world implications. It can influence perceptions and decision-making, potentially hindering the progress we've made in breaking down gender barriers. As female entrepreneurs, we understand the importance of challenging these biases to create a more inclusive future."