AI Gender Bias: Doubling Down on Diversity

“Can you imagine if all the toddlers in the world were raised by 20-year-old men? That’s what our AI looks like today.” Frida Polli, at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Generation Summit. 

 The AI boom has brought with it both the brilliant and baffling.  

On one hand, it has saved time, created advancements in health and become a driving force of productivity. But on the other, it has brought poor governance, lost jobs and controversy.  

One of the biggest bones of contention, as Frida Polli mentions and as anyone who has used AI tools will attest to, is gender bias. 

At Amigo, we have fully embraced AI in our evolved way of working, Intelligent Progress™. When we started this journey, we knew that the boom would bring complex issues, with gender bias being one of the biggest.  

But this issue is larger than us and the creative industry, it will affect everything it touches.  

BASED ON BIAS  

You would like to think tech has no bias, but it’s made and harnessed by humans... 
 
With women still being largely underrepresented in leadership positions and STEM fields, which we have seen first-hand in OpenAI’s recent announcement of the composition of their board, and with the majority of developers being white males, society’s internal stereotypes aren’t just expressed in AI’s creation, they are being perpetuated.  

It is everywhere:   

• Virtual assistants: Alexa, Siri and Google’s assistant reinforce stereotypes about women being suited as assistants. A great example being the recent debacle with Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI.  

• Generative image AI: Tools have been known to select images based on biased data, showing women in caregiving roles and men in professional roles. They are unrepresentative of how women look, showing them to be mainly younger, without wrinkles and more subservient.  
  

• Targeted algorithms: May display cars in ads to men, while cosmetics to women. 
  

• Generative copywriting AI: Language models might use gendered language, with assertive terms for male-targeted ads and softer language for female-targeted ones. 
  

• Job applications: Some businesses have started using AI to create job applications, which has led to some tools systematically producing bias. 
  

• Shopping algorithms might suggest gendered products: Dolls for girls and action figures for boys.   

What’s the implication?  

For businesses, relying on biased AI can shake confidence in decision-making processes, making people question whether the outcomes are truly fair. This causes the breakdown of trust and can undermine the inclusivity businesses have worked so hard to create.  

For our lives, reinforced stereotypes of men, women and gender in traditional roles, resulting in a damaging ripple effect of how we see ourselves and each other. 

But luckily our society has fought these fires before, we are more aware, and battle hardened. Backlash has already started against the big tech companies, forcing their hand to make changes in the back end of these models. Now, when you open ChatGPT and ask it to create a film script it will spit something out about ‘a diverse cast.’ It’s a step in the right direction but it still feels like there is a lack of authenticity. It’s extremely difficult to encourage Silicon Valley tech companies to create more inclusivity, and it’s even harder to implement a deep change in the way their boards and leaders think. 

DOUBLE DOWN ON DIVERSITY 

So, the answer is what it’s always been, diverse thought.   

That doesn’t just mean add more diverse representation in positions of power. This would be a leap in the right direction, but it’s not enough. Top level developers can be the age of 20 with already 10 years’ experience. The issue needs to be addressed through education at a much younger age. 

This is by no stretch simple either. But what is much easier, is to look at ourselves, how we work and in what we create. 

Amigo is a people-first integrated creative agency delivering brand, strategy, creative, digital and campaign solutions. We believe our people (along with our frameworks) set us apart from our competitors and make us who we are. We believe that human, emotional intelligence creates beautiful culture and beautiful work, that can only happen by fostering an environment where every idea is listened to and appreciated.  

We must always remember this. 

 When Amigo decided to embrace AI, the key was to create a framework that meant we could amplify this thinking. Over a nine-month period we invested heavily in R&D on a plan, test and learn approach and spoke internally to create our Augmented CreativityTM framework, which allows us to use AI as a tool on a circa 80% human and 20% AI split. So, as well as elevating decision making, creativity and research, we are amplifying our emotional intelligence.  

Then it’s about how we harness AI. 

• Diverse data: We make sure our AI is trained on data that reflects a wide range of experiences and perspectives, so it can serve everyone fairly.  

• Ongoing audits: We regularly check our AI for signs of bias and adjust as needed, ensuring that our technology stays on the right track.  

• Human oversight: AI can do a lot, but it can’t replace the human touch. Our diverse teams review AI-generated content to make sure it aligns with our values of fairness and inclusivity.  
• Thoughtful prompts: We guide our AI with prompts that encourage inclusive, equitable outcomes. For example, we use language that includes “all genders” instead of just “men and women.”  
  

If diverse thought is amplified within how AI is harnessed, the output should match.  

As we evolve with this new way of working, so will our new SaaS technology, AMI.GO™ *. We must remember that AI is in its infancy, that it will have its pitfalls, but we constantly need to stay above them. That AI is a tool to supercharge emotion and creativity, especially as we plan to use it further in the future. 

*AMI.GO™ is a marketing decision intelligence tool combining best-practice briefing and strategy frameworks with AI and machine learning to deliver a deeper depth of strategic coherence and insight to inform marketing decision-making and the creative process. AMI.GO™ = Advanced Marketing Intelligence.  

We are always excited to partner with people and clients who are looking to harness AI. If you want to see how AI could be used to supercharge your creative campaigns with efficiencies and effectiveness, we can help. Or if you’re looking for consultation on how to incorporate AI across your internal and creative operations, we help with that too.  Get in touch.