Men More Likely to Bluff About AI Knowledge; 53% Say They Recognize Fictitious Execs, Harvard Study Finds

The Harvard survey tested whether Americans could distinguish real AI figures from invented ones. (Credit: Xiangkun ZHU/Unsplash)

More than half of the American men surveyed for a new Harvard University study said they recognised two senior figures in artificial intelligence who do not exist, a finding the authors cite as a sign that men tend to overstate how much they know about the technology.

The study, titled 'Are Women Being Left Out of AI?,' was released on 14 October by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. It drew on a survey of 5,403 adults across the United States, carried out between 10 and 16 July 2026, together with desktop browsing data and an analysis of more than 78,000 news articles about AI.