New study finds significant gender inequality among AI professionals depicted in key films

A new study has revealed how artificial intelligence (AI) professionals depicted in key films are almost exclusively men, a reality which, the study authors say, has created a new cultural stereotype that is likely contributing to the shortage of women in AI development.

According to the University of Cambridge research, just eight per cent of all AI professionals from 100 years of cinema are women – and half of these are shown as subordinate to men.

The study authors from the university’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) added that without enough women building AI, there is a high risk of gender bias seeping into the algorithms set to define the future.

For the study, the Cambridge researchers whittled more than 1,400 films featuring AI between 1920 and 2020 to the 142 most influential, which included blockbusters such as Iron Man and Ex Machina. From these films, the researchers then identified 116 characters they deemed “AI professionals”. Of these individuals, 92% were men. In fact, there were just eight female scientists and one female CEO depicted in all of the movies.

“Gender inequality in the AI industry is systemic and pervasive,” said co-author Dr Kanta Dihal from LCFI at Cambridge.

“Mainstream films are an enormously influential source and amplifier of the cultural stereotypes that help dictate who is suited to a career in AI.”

"We need to be careful that these cultural stereotypes do not become a self-fulfilling prophecy as we enter the age of artificial intelligence,” said Dihal.

The study is published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. There is also an accompanying report published on the LCFI website.

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