GENEVA — UN Women warned on June 22, 2026, that artificial intelligence is reproducing old gender stereotypes. The organization urged governments, companies, and developers to ensure gender equality is built into the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems.

UN Women stated that AI stereotypes amplify online abuse and exclude women from decisions defining the digital future. The organization called for gender equality and the rights and experiences of women and girls to be integrated at every stage of the AI lifecycle.

Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Women Lead on Digital Technologies, said, "AI models pull bias from decades of text written by people, about people, in a world where women were filed under home and family, and men were filed under business and career." She added, "It's a real policy gap that was left wide open." Wickramanayake further stated, "It's a choice that we make over and over in training data, in design rooms, in policy documents that stay silent on half of the population."

A study of 133 AI systems found that 44 per cent demonstrated gender bias. More than 25 per cent of these systems showed both gender and racial bias. Large language models have associated women with home, family, and childcare in generated responses, while men have been linked to business, leadership, and career success.

Some AI systems have generated responses portraying women as sexual objects or as subordinate to men. UN Women stated that when researchers asked large language models to complete sentences beginning with a person's gender, approximately 20 per cent of responses were sexist or misogynistic. Some AI responses described women as property or objects. UN Women noted that AI systems are trained on decades of unequal representation of women and men.

UN Women warned that the people building AI systems do not adequately reflect the diversity of the populations they serve. The organization warned that communities facing exclusion may be pushed further behind by AI transformation unless targeted action is taken. The International Labour Organization stated that women account for 30 per cent of the global AI workforce.

Of 138 countries assessed worldwide, 24 referred to gender in their national AI strategies, and 18 included substantive gender-responsive measures. In the United Kingdom, 88 per cent of advertising and media agencies are using artificial intelligence in some form. UN Women data indicates that nearly 25 per cent of surveyed women human rights defenders, activists, and journalists reported experiencing AI-assisted online violence. Twelve per cent of surveyed women human rights defenders, activists, and journalists said personal images had been shared without their consent, and six per cent reported being targeted by deepfakes or manipulated images and videos.

UN Women stated that responsibly developed artificial intelligence can help identify stereotypes, expand representation, and improve accessibility. The organization further stated that AI designed with safety and used with intention can detect stereotypes, broaden representation, and improve accessibility. The United Nations Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance and the AI for Good Global Summit are scheduled for early July in Geneva.