Women and Generative AI: The Adoption Gap Is Closing Fast, But a Trust Gap Persists

By: Susanne Hupfer, Bree Matheson, Gillian Crossan, Ariane Bucaille & Jeff Loucks (Deloitte)

Deloitte predicts that the experimentation with and use of generative AI by women will equal or exceed that of men in the United States by the end of 2025. Although women’s use of generative AI was half that of men’s in 2023, their pace of adoption suggests they are likely to reach parity within the next year. While this parity prediction is for the United States, the generative AI gender gap is a global phenomenon: In European countries, where the use of generative AI has been surveyed, our analysis not only identified significant gender adoption differences but also revealed that women are rapidly making up ground. These countries will likely close the adoption gender gap within the next two years, and the global challenges and opportunities for adoption will likely mirror the US findings.

Despite accelerating their generative AI adoption, women express less trust than men that generative AI providers will keep their data secure. This “technology trust gap” could inhibit women’s regular use of the technology and full participation in new generative AI applications, as well as slow down their future purchasing of generative AI products and services. To help overcome this trust gap, tech companies should enhance their data security, implement clearer data management practices, and provide greater data control.

AI model bias can also have a negative impact on trust. Women constitute less than one-third of the AI workforce, and most AI workers feel that AI will produce biased results as long as their field continues to be male dominated. Increasing women’s presence in the field can help reduce gender bias in AI, as well as give women a greater role in steering the future of the technology.

Recent Deloitte research has highlighted a gender gap in generative AI adoption across various geographies. For the past two years, the Deloitte Connected Consumer Survey has investigated the adoption of generative AI by US consumers as part of its research into digital life. Our analysis revealed that women in the United States have been lagging in taking up this emerging technology (figure 1): In 2023, women’s adoption of generative AI was roughly half that of men (11% of women reported experimenting with generative AI or using it for projects and tasks beyond experimentation, vs. 20% of men). In 2024, the same survey revealed that generative AI adoption overall had more than doubled, but the gender gap remained: Thirty-three percent of women surveyed reported using or experimenting with generative AI, vs. 44% of men…

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