The growing use of Artificial Intelligence could lead to women earning even less than they do now, an expert in the gender pay gap has predicted. 

Paying women less than men for doing the same job is currently illegal in Ireland. 

However, statistics suggest that the average woman in the street will be less on than a typical man who walks past her. 

On Newstalk Daily, PayGap.ie founder Jennifer Keane explained there are a huge number of factors that contribute to women earning less than men. 

 “Women have to take time off work more often for childcare,” she said. 

“Not just for actual maternity leave; even the burden of childcare tends to fall on women. 

“So, if a child is sick in school, it’s more often the mother that’s called than the father. 

“Women then subsequently end up moving into more part-time roles.” 

A mother and her baby. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Exact data is hard to come by, as many Irish companies do not collect it and neither does Government. 

“We have some information,” Ms Keane continued. 

“The CSO have in 2022 [reported] that our pay gap is at 9.6%. 

“The Eurostat says we’re at about 8.6%.” 

A businesswoman. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Ms Keane added that this then becomes a “lifelong” problem, as women have a smaller pension to sustain them in their retirement. 

Some estimates suggest that on current trends it could take a century to eradicate the gender pay gap from Irish society. 

However, that doesn’t factor in changes to how society operates. 

“What I think a lot of people don’t realise is that AI might actually be making the issue worse,” Ms Keane warned. 

“Not because it’s taking our jobs but because it’s reinforcing gender biases. 

“AI is trained on data; the data that AI is trained on represents the real world and right now, the real world has biases. 

“So, when AI is asked questions, it’s going to answer with a concept of a biased world.” 

A woman at work. Picture by: Panther Media GmbH / Alamy.com. 

As an experiment, Ms Keane asked ChatGPT for salary recommendations for fictional hires. 

“When I told it I was a woman, it recommended that my starting salary was less than if I gave it all the same parameters but said that I was male,” she revealed. 

“It is trained on the data of the world - which is a biased world. 

“The data says we have a pay gap, so AI says we have a pay gap. 

“We see that a lot in different automated scanning, screening, decision making etc.” 

With that in mind, Ms Keane said the rise of AI is a “very worrying concern” for women and other minorities who have traditionally been disadvantaged by societal biases.

Main image: A young woman in the office. Picture by: Alamy.com.