BlogikirjoitusWomen are hesitant when it comes to AI because they fear its ethical and societal consequences. That is worrying, because AI is a system that not only needs to be fed, but also raised. Women need to take the wheel too.
It is already late and dark when I am searching for my cottage in the British town of Reading, in the middle of nowhere. I have signed up for an AI Retreat for SaaS (Software as a Service) companies, and the contrast could not be greater when I finally find my place to sleep: an old, crooked 17th-century building on stilts.
The retreat itself is full of contrasts. Alongside fascinating sessions about AI and the future, the programme also includes activities such as sauna sessions, music meditation, and campfire gatherings. Everything truly comes together here: history, the future, technology, and spirituality. It is a combination that speaks to me, with meaningful discussions about how we, as humans, relate to AI and how we shape a world filled with AI.
The Drawing Board Is Occupied by One Perspective
Whatever your view of AI, one thing is certain: we are laying the foundations of this technology that is rapidly entering our lives, with unprecedented potential. AI can help cure diseases faster, reduce hunger, develop new medicines, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs. But it can also be used for autonomous weapons systems, drones that independently select targets, surveillance systems on an unprecedented scale, and systems that can eliminate people more cheaply, quickly, and effectively.
To shape what AI becomes, the feminine perspective is just as important as the masculine one—but it is largely missing today. The drawing board is occupied by one perspective. As Maaike Halbers said last year in her Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture at Leiden University: “Developers at major tech companies are generally male, white, and heterosexual. Their choices determine what algorithms look like. They embed their ethics and worldview into code, and therefore into the AI used by millions of people.”
The Gender Gap
The AI gender gap has been recognised for some time. According to the American research firm Lean, men use AI 22 percent more often than women. That may not sound dramatic, but while men are praised 30 percent more often for using AI, the reputations of their female colleagues actually decline when they use it—it is seen as evidence of incompetence. Meanwhile, women are among those most vulnerable to jobs being replaced by AI.
Recent research from Oxford, titled Women Worry, Men Adopt: How Gendered Perceptions Shape the Use of Generative AI, shows that women hesitate because of AI’s far-reaching consequences, while men continue to build an advantage. That gap is problematic for everyone.
I also noticed this imbalance at the AI Retreat in Reading. Of the sixteen board members from various European SaaS companies, only two others were women besides me. As CEO of a data technology company focused on making global supply chains more transparent and sustainable, I am used to operating in a male-dominated environment. But something clicked for me in Reading: a strong drive to speak up for greater female involvement.
What strengthens that conviction is my own experience: you do not have to be a seasoned programmer to build AI tools. AI makes technology accessible to everyone. All you need is the willingness to experiment—and to make plenty of marvellous mistakes.
Collaboration and a Moral Compass
There are three important reasons why female—or, more neutrally, feminine—involvement is urgently needed in the development of AI.
First, the greatest challenge for us as humans is determining how we will collaborate with AI. You can think of AI as a rapidly emerging new resource that will take over part of our work. HR departments, where many women work, should therefore be deeply engaged with AI. Which tasks should AI agents handle, and where are humans indispensable? What is needed to make this transition, build strong teams, and give human experts confidence in the future?
HR has a role here that should not be underestimated. The SaaS leaders in Reading were already well on their way to forming mixed teams of people, AI, and AI agents, each with their own tasks and responsibilities.
Historically, women have often excelled in connecting roles: HR, strategy, operations, and orchestration. Fortune predicts that by 2026, as AI takes over more routine tasks, orchestrating complex human-AI systems will become one of the most sought-after leadership skills. That represents a clear opportunity.
Second, we need to decide what moral compass we give AI. Algorithms are increasingly making decisions that have a major impact on our lives. Who gets a loan? Who is invited for a job interview? Which patient receives priority? Which action items from a meeting are highlighted? All of these decisions reflect the values of the people who built the systems.
If those values come only from a handful of male tech founders and engineers, I fear we will create a very cold world. This powerful technology must also make room for empathy, compassion, collaboration, and long-term thinking. That requires female involvement—especially from women who have moral concerns and who worry about the direction AI is taking.
A living example came one evening around the campfire in Reading. One male participant proudly told us about his real estate investments in the “tax haven” of Dubai and how AI was helping him generate even greater profits. He seemed to forget that taxes are the foundation of a society with schools, roads, and public safety for everyone. While the other participants remained silent, I could not keep quiet. I was driven by the belief that AI should be used to strengthen society and build a livable future.
Finally, as Ethan Mollick, professor, author of Co-Intelligence, and one of the sharpest thinkers on AI and organisations, puts it: the opportunity to influence how AI develops is now. Right now the situation is still fluid; the mould is still soft. If we do not make adjustments now, we will cast our blind spots in concrete.
AI Is Nothing Without Humans in the Loop
In my own field, I see many opportunists entering the market. Entrepreneurs who recognise AI as a huge opportunity but lack expertise in complex supply chains. They follow a sell-and-run strategy. They build AI tools, launch them into the market, and disappear when problems arise.
Supply chain transparency requires enormous amounts of data, and AI can absolutely perform wonders with that data. But knowledge and experience are equally essential. How, for example, do you reach a factory owner far away who does not speak English and is unwilling to enter information about employee wages into a digital system? What claims can you then make about having a fair supply chain?
That requires experts who can have those conversations, conduct in-depth investigations, resolve crises, and understand not only how to map a supply chain but also how to improve it.
AI is nothing without humans in the loop—that is, human experts who are able to act. Someone must understand the outcome, know the context, and defend the decision. Women are often particularly strong in exactly this role: applying critical judgment, seeing connections, and making ethical decisions.
The Privilege of Shaping the Future
You can see AI as threatening and overwhelming, but you can also see it this way: we are standing at the beginning of an enormous revolution. We are witnessing it firsthand, and we have the choice to sit behind the wheel and determine its direction. That is a privilege, but too many women are still sitting in the back seat.
So to all women, I say this: take the wheel. Learn about AI and start experimenting. Talk to your phone. Start vibe coding. Imagine what your mixed human-AI teams will look like, and identify where human judgment and human interaction remain irreplaceable. Don’t do this only on a quiet Friday afternoon—make it part of your routine.
Being a spectator is not enough. Make sure you are on the playing field.
That is good for all of us, because the defining challenge of our time is learning how to harness AI’s enormous potential without losing control. The feminine perspective is indispensable in that effort.
Agents That Analyse My Dreams
For me personally, AI is a fascinating playground where I learn something new every day. Of course, as CEO of a technology and data-driven company, I may be biased, but I believe it is largely a matter of simply getting started. I listen to podcasts about AI, read extensively, attend events, and constantly experiment with building AI agents.
I have agents that work together every morning to create a personalised podcast for me, ensuring I begin my workday informed, prepared, and inspired across a wide range of topics.
One evening around the campfire in Reading, we discussed whether AI might one day become conscious. Some participants believed it would; I do not. What I do believe is that AI can mislead us—by convincing us that it does possess consciousness and a moral compass, lulling us into complacency.
All the more reason to take the wheel ourselves.
– CEO Leontien Hasselman-Plugge