The artificial intelligence boom is fueling a surge in high-paying new jobs, but women are being left behind in one of the labor market’s most lucrative growth areas.
Fresh research from LinkedIn found that women made up only 26 percent of AI hires in the US in 2025. By comparison, they represented 50 percent of hires in non-AI jobs.
The gap is especially notable because artificial intelligence jobs are expanding quickly and often come with a significant salary advantage.
According to LinkedIn’s data, US AI job postings have roughly doubled since 2023. The typical AI position advertised pay of about $177,000, far above the roughly $80,000 listed for a typical non-AI role.
Those numbers point to a clear imbalance: women are underrepresented in one of the fastest-growing corners of the economy, where the potential financial rewards are substantial.
Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to chatbots or the domain of computer scientists.
Businesses across a wide range of industries are recruiting workers to build AI systems, adapt them for commercial use and shape broader artificial intelligence strategies, creating a new tier of well-paid technology jobs.
LinkedIn also found that “AI engineer” has surpassed “machine learning engineer” as the most common artificial intelligence role listed in job postings on its platform.
The leaders of the biggest AI companies are overwhelmingly male
New research from LinkedIn has found that women accounted for just 26 percent of AI hires in the US in 2025, compared with 50 percent of hires into non-AI occupations
Other positions are also taking off. Job postings for ‘vice president of AI’ have increased roughly sixfold, while ‘forward deployed engineer’ – a role focused on helping companies put AI systems into practice – has become the third most common AI occupation in postings.
But women aren’t keeping pace with that growth. Their representation falls even further in some of the most senior and highly paid AI positions.
Women make up just 20 percent of ‘head of AI’ roles, 26 percent of ‘director of AI’ positions and 18 percent of ‘member of technical staff’ roles, according to LinkedIn.
And the gap becomes even more pronounced at the very top of the corporate ladder. While the public face of the industry includes OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, women are sorely underrepresented.
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Across 27 countries examined by LinkedIn, women hold just 13 percent of C-suite AI leadership positions at AI-focused companies.
LinkedIn describes this as part of a broader ‘AI triple penalty,’ where women face representation gaps at several stages of the career pipeline.
Women account for roughly 10 percentage points less of AI roles than they do of non-AI roles. They also represent around five percentage points less of the workforce at AI-focused companies compared with comparable non-AI businesses.
Then comes the biggest gap: the difference in representation is approximately 15 percentage points wider at C-suite level than in roles below the executive level.
In other words, the further up the AI career ladder you go, the fewer women you tend to see.
LinkedIn data shows that US AI job postings have roughly doubled since 2023, while the typical AI role lists compensation of around $177,000, compared with about $80,000 for a typical non-AI position
AI jobs are also heavily concentrated among people with four-year college degrees. Around 91 percent of AI workers have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the research
The gender gap is particularly concerning because of the financial opportunities attached to many AI roles.
The highest-paying positions include head of AI, director of AI and member of technical staff roles, making underrepresentation in these jobs potentially significant not just for individual careers but for the broader gender pay and wealth gap.
For workers who can secure the right skills and experience, AI is therefore becoming a potentially lucrative career path.
But access to that path appears far from equal. Gender isn’t the only divide LinkedIn identified. AI jobs are also heavily concentrated among people with four-year college degrees.
Around 91 percent of AI workers have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the research.
That percentage climbs above 95 percent in several of the best-paid AI occupations, which could leave workers without traditional four-year degrees at another disadvantage as companies increasingly seek AI expertise.
It also raises questions about how employers can widen access to the sector as demand for AI skills continues to grow.
The issue is bigger than simply who gets hired by technology companies. As AI becomes increasingly important across industries, the jobs associated with it could shape who benefits financially from the next wave of economic growth.
If women remain underrepresented in AI, they could miss out on some of the fastest-growing career opportunities – while companies could also lose access to a large pool of potential talent.
