Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Skims becomes the official underwear of the NBA and WNBA, moms in the U.K. are struggling to receive equal promotion opportunities at law firms, and there's a growing gender gap in AI adoption. Have a lovely Tuesday.
- AI for all? Executives across industries are on board with the potential of generative AI, talking it up in earnings calls and to their customers. But what about rank-and-file employees?
According to a new report from Charter, a workplace research organization, there's an emerging gender gap in employee enthusiasm toward AI. In an August survey of about 1,100 U.S. workers (both salaried and hourly), 35% of women respondents said they use generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their jobs, compared to 48% of men.
Charter's head of research Emily Goligoski speculates that this may be because women, many of whom are caregivers, have less time to play around with new technologies. But in addition to current adoption rates, women are also less excited about the future of AI.
Forty-six percent of women agreed with the statement, "I am excited about the prospect of using generative AI as part of my day-to day-work," while 66% of men did. When asked about AI, male respondents displayed more optimism while women were more uncertain—which may be because their jobs are more likely to be eliminated or negatively impacted by AI, Charter said in its report. Women have been in this position before, the report stated; take for example hotel cleaning staff who were forced to order room cleanings based on a faulty algorithm or telephone operators whose jobs were made obsolete by technology.
While women have plenty of good reasons to be skeptical, Goligoski says she worries that slower AI adoption could imperil women's earning potential. Combined with analysis of AI adoption by race and age, "gendered ageism" becomes a major concern, she adds.
It's up to employers to show concerned workers that AI will make their jobs easier—not necessarily threaten their livelihoods. "What positive examples can they show of workplace or workflow challenges that could be actually really positively augmented with AI?" Goligoski asks.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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