Will Artificial Intelligence Get in the Way of Achieving Gender Equality?

Abstract

We conduct two surveys with preregistered experiments to examine gender differences in generative AI adoption and potential labor market consequences. First, we document a substantial gender gap in AI adoption among students at a top business school in Norway, with female students, particularly top students, opting out of AI use. Second, a survey of managers shows that acquiring AI skills would significantly enhance job prospects for top female students currently avoiding AI. Finally, we provide causal evidence on policy tools to close the gender gap in AI adoption. Our findings show that while generative AI could widen existing gender gaps in the labor market, with the right policies, it could instead be leveraged to help close them.