Dive Brief:
- AI is one of the most rapidly growing career fields, but women only made up 26% of AI hires in 2025 despite comprising half of the hires for non-AI roles, according to research from LinkedIn published last week.
- In the highest-paying AI positions, women represented an even lower percentage of hires; only 20% held head of AI jobs, with 26% in director of AI roles and 18% in technical staff positions. In the 27 countries examined in the study, “women hold only 13% of C-suite AI leadership roles at AI companies,” LinkedIn said.
- The greatest percentage of AI jobs go to people with college degrees, with 91% going to applicants with a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the highest-paying positions, that percentage rises to above 95%.
Dive Insight:
The study examined U.S. LinkedIn job postings, and found that companies offering AI roles on the platform approximately doubled since 2023, with an average salary of about $177,000, compared to $80,000 for a non-AI role.
However, despite the available opportunities, there are significant disparities in the AI hiring pipeline when it comes to both gender and education, especially at the highest levels.
“The findings suggest that while AI is becoming an increasingly important source of career growth and economic opportunity, women aren’t being afforded these opportunities,” the report said.
There are three main barriers keeping women out of AI roles: a role deficit, a firm deficit and a leadership deficit. The number of women in AI roles is about 10 percentage points lower than in non-AI roles, while at the company level, women’s share of the workforce is approximately five percentage points lower at AI-focused companies than at non-AI companies. Meanwhile, the gap is widest at the leadership level. LinkedIn said the AI gender gap is about 15 percentage points wider for C-suite roles than for roles below the executive level.
The gender problem isn’t new. A 2024 report from Zeki Research found that while women have played critical roles in AI development and early-career women are valued in the workplace, their career trajectories end up being disrupted.
“Women receive 30% less visibility and recognition as their careers progress compared to peers, representing a critical loss of potential within the AI field,” according to a Zeki statement.
In addition, women make up 83% of the people employed in AI-vulnerable roles, according to a May report from the National Partnership for Women and Families. Women of color make up 31% of workers in the 15 most AI-vulnerable roles, including in the gig economy, nursing and warehouse work.
