Is AI overwriting women at work?

When we asked a group of working people, women were more likely than men to say they were ‘very confident’ in their writing skills.

So why did 60% of the same group of women say they used AI to ‘sound more professional’, when only 38% of men said the same?

New gender gap; same as the old gender gap

There are loads of research out there already on gender bias in AI. LLMs crunch through mountains of human thinking, so of course they’ve been known to trot out stereotypes; it’s not like people don’t.

But this isn’t a problem of output. It’s a problem of why women are asking for AI’s input on their voices in the first place. (Especially since they seem uncomfortable about it: 79% of women said they sometimes or often hide that they’re using AI, compared to 66% of men.)

I suspect it comes from two annoyingly persistent ideas.

1. That women’s voices aren’t professional enough – which is probably why we keep being told to write like men.
2. That ‘professional’ means cold, terse and formal.

Neither is good news for the women you work with or your brand. But you can tackle both with the right skills and knowledge.

First, ask if your people really know what good looks like

It’s one thing to ask AI to use a brand tone of voice based on detailed guidelines. We work with clients to do that all the time. It’s another to let it decide what professional means. That’s letting AI have a say in your internal voice and culture, which eventually leaks into your brand.

If people don’t understand what good writing looks, sounds and feels like, they can’t challenge AI on it. They won’t write great prompts. And they’ll stop thinking critically about when and how to use AI – risking a landslide of slop.

And yes, it’s people, not just women. Men might worry less about sounding credible, but – as someone who trains hundreds of people in business writing every year – trust me when I tell you they find it just as hard to let go of preconceived ideas about how ‘credible’ sounds.

Everyone needs to know better if you’re going to do better.

Then join the experts to talk about the challenges

We’ve pulled together a panel with decades of experience in women’s leadership, brand and language for our Rewriting the rules: AI, gender and the “professional” trap webinar on Wednesday 1 July, from 11:00-12:00 (BST).

Come along to hear about:

• what else we found in our survey of how women and men use AI differently at work
• why it matters to your people, culture and brand
• what you can do to make your teams more inclusive, build up critical skills and use AI more effectively.

And of course, bring your opinions and questions too.

Written by Alex Goldstein, Creative Director at Definition.