Senior-level women are steering AI strategy at work, says report: They're focused on 'what to protect while we move fast'

Eighty percent of senior-level women say they’re “active players” in how their workplace is building its AI strategy.

That’s according to a new survey of more than 1,000 senior-level women conducted by Chief, the membership network for executive women, and The Harris Poll. A similar share of high-powered women say they’re already working day-to-day to establish AI governance guidelines, create space for skills training and have explicit conversations about what good judgment looks like in the future AI-powered workplace.

The new report focusing on executive women’s participation in decision-making around AI is set against a backdrop of concerns of a broader use gender gap. Previous research has found women are generally more skeptical of the technology and slower to adopt it, setting up the potential for a skills gap that turns into a long-term opportunity gap.

Survey responses from the Chief report indicate that women at the top are helping make decisions about how AI gets used in their workplaces — and voicing concerns about how it’ll impact employees down the line.

For example, 87% of women leaders say they’ve witnessed negative outcomes when AI is prioritized without parallel investment in people, including drops in strategic thinking, institutional knowledge and entry-level opportunities.