Artificial Intelligence and sex discrimination
AI has some amazing workplace applications – but as well as a threat to jobs, could it also be discriminatory?
Departments, divisions and devolved governments everywhere are getting very excited about artificial intelligence (AI). It seems to do everything from creating code to providing reports to making images for presentations. There’s no doubt that AI can be a lot of fun to use and can help lighten the workload. But could it also be a source of discrimination against women?
According to TUC Cymru’s recent report, the answer is ‘yes’. Women are still a minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) across the globe, meaning that most who research and work on AI are male. AI can only work on what it’s fed and it seems to have acquired a gender bias.
Researchers have noted that its image generation is much more likely to show men than women in high paid jobs, and much more likely to have female-voiced ‘assistants’, to give two examples. There’s also an increased potential for sexual harassment with harassers and abusers harnessing AI’s capabilities to produce images relating to sexual abuse.
So, current societal inequalities are more likely to teach AI that women are automatically paid less than men, that women have less high-ranking jobs and that assertiveness and confidence are what matters most in the workplace. This leads to predictions being made by people using AI tools which serve to maintain the status quo.
There is also the question of how generative AI will affect women workers. Generative AI creates original work such as text and images in response to user prompts. Depending on the amount of information generative AI has access to, it can function much like a junior member of staff (as I heard it described at a Civil Service Live seminar!). Staff at the lower grades are more likely to be women and managers won’t guarantee that all staff will keep their jobs with an increased use of AI.
PCS is strongly committed to equalities work. Where emerging technology – or any other workplace issue - has the potential to cause harm to any group, your union is working to mitigate this. PCS fights for workers against job loss and discrimination. So, AI is a fascinating use of technology, but it’s also yet another reason to join a union.
Amongst other issues, PCS’s national women’s forum is looking into AI. If you have an issue to raise about AI and how it affects you, please let them know at [email protected].