Parents

As generative AI becomes an integral part of education, social interactions, and career development, parents need a baseline understanding of how these technologies work. Without this knowledge, parents may struggle to help their children identify and challenge gender biases and gender stereotypes within the AI-generated content.

This knowledgebase includes understanding that generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and DALL∙E, which generate human-like responses, are trained on vast datasets. These vast datasets can and do contain biases, in particular gender bias, which can further inhibit girls from undertaking studies and career pathways in the STEM disciplines. As an example, a generative AI tool which recommends engineering roles more often to boys, and nursing roles more often to girls, would be perpetuating gender stereotyping in STEM fields.

Introduction to AI and Generative AI

Artificial Intelligence, simply known as AI, is the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and decision-making.

Generative AI, which was popularised by the emergence of ChatGPT, is a distinct subset of AI, and which produces new and meaningful content. The content produced can take the form of text, images, program code and sound. Commonly encountered examples of generative AI include: ChatGPT, Copilot, DALL-E, and Gemini.

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Gender Bias and Inclusivity of Gender

Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and DALL∙E, are susceptible to biases, such as gender bias. These biases stem from the large datasets that the generative AI tools are trained on. The biases present within these large training datasets may subsequently influence the output produced by the generative AI tools. For example, a user requesting DALL∙E to produce an image of a builder will most likely receive an image of a muscular male, whereas a similar request for a nurse will likely produce an image of a female, with a ‘perfect’ body. These biases can potentially compromise students’ attitudes for studying certain subjects due to the persistent is and stereotyping that suggests STEM is a ‘male’ field.

Resources for Parents

Parents can engage with a variety of resources that can help them develop their knowledge of generative AI tools, including their awareness of gender bias and stereotypes.
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AI Based Tools

Parents can engage with a variety of resources that can help them develop their knowledge of generative AI technology tools, including their awareness of gender bias and stereotypes.