The backlash to Reese Witherspoon reveals a more nuanced AI problem

What you probably already know: Just last week, actor Reese Witherspoon received significant blowback after posting a seemingly innocuous post on Instagram exhorting women to use AI or risk being left behind. The Morning Show star cited statistics saying that women use AI 25% less than men. Sounds innocent, right? Critics jumped all over her, but not for reasons you might expect: Most accused her of promoting technology over people and cited the negative environmental effects of data centers needed to run and train large-scale AI models. The controversy reveals the fear and misunderstanding over AI and its seeming invasion of everyday life.

Why it matters: Though Witherspoon’s post was straightforward and perfectly reasonable, the reaction mirrors the widespread fear both genders have over AI taking their jobs. A recent poll found that one in five workers say AI is doing part of their work. And Witherspoon is right: Women in particular have a complicated relationship with AI. Research does, indeed, show that women use AI at work less than men; that women are more skeptical of its use; and that AI often reflects gender-related biases. Of more than 2,500 recent queries sent to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini and Perplexity, women accounted for just 16.1% of expert mentions, even though women account for 28% of the information and communications technology workforce. The bias is real.

What it means: A survey of more than 1,000 senior women leaders by Chief, however, tells a very different story. Top women executives are rapidly embracing AI, setting the tone for its use in their workplaces and using it to supplement, rather than replace, talent. Eighty percent of women leaders play active roles as their organizations implement AI, with the vast majority working to actively involve employees at all levels, even when AI begins to handle entry-related tasks. The survey was conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll.

What happens next: “What I see from the thousands of women leaders is vastly different from today’s headlines saying, ‘women are behind in AI’ and ‘women aren’t moving fast enough,’” says Chief CEO Alison Moore. “Women leaders aren’t just asking what AI does for us, but also what it does to us.” Eighty-five percent of women leaders say that “leaders who invest in both AI and human development will outperform those who focus only on AI.” Women leaders are overwhelmingly also the first to identify AI-related problems or risks before they turn into cultural crises. “In the AI era, human relationships are your competitive advantage.”