Double Disadvantage: An Interview Study with Women in the AI Industry on the Role of Gender in AI Ethics

Abstract

With the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), increasing attention has been paid to the ethical implications of AI systems. Much of the existing work on AI ethics focuses primarily on technical characteristics of these systems, while paying less attention to the social contexts in which they are developed and deployed. However, prior research suggests that diversity in teams leads to more ethical decision making. Despite the relevance of diversity for AI ethics, the AI workforce is predominantly male, and there is little research, particularly empirical, on the relation between gender and AI ethics. This paper addresses this gap by presenting an interview study with 19 women working in the Dutch AI industry, exploring their perspectives on the role of gender in AI ethics. Using thematic analysis, we defined four key themes: 1) women enrich AI ethics, 2) ethics is undervalued in the AI sector, 3) women are often taken less seriously in AI workplaces, and 4) homogeneity is reinforced in large parts of the AI sector. Our findings suggest that diversity and inclusion, and AI ethics are strongly interconnected, highlighting the importance of addressing structural inequalities within the AI sector to support more ethically informed AI development and deployment.