When I read the article in The Times about how AI-generated content is already dominated by male users, I wasn’t surprised. But I was fired up. Tired, sure. A little ragey, absolutely. But mostly motivated.
According to the research, only 16% of ChatGPT users are women. And of the power users actively shaping what these tools know, how they speak, and what they prioritize? Even fewer.
As a woman. As a nonprofit leader. As a mother raising two daughters. That reality doesn’t sit right with me.
Because this technology isn’t neutral. It’s being shaped every day—by the people who use it, the stories they feed it, and the creativity they bring to it. If women aren’t in that equation, the future is missing something essential.
Fellow females: stop sitting this one out
We bring nuance, empathy, creativity, and complexity. We lead households, organizations, and entire movements—often while answering a toddler's question about why cheese melts.
Why wouldn’t we use the most powerful tools available to amplify that?
We have every right to be cautious. But we also have every reason—and every right—to be at the forefront of this technology. When we leave the tech to others, we leave the design of the future in someone else’s hands.
This is not about becoming tech bros. It's about becoming creative directors of a more inclusive digital future.
I use AI every day—and I use it creatively
I use AI to help write grant narratives that sound human, clear, and persuasive. I use AI to build trauma-informed chatbots that serve child protection professionals. I use AI to storyboard interactive trainings for prosecutors, investigators, and parents. I use AI to turn messy meeting transcripts into post-course guides that actually make sense.
I also use AI for my family. Earlier this year I built an app called Brightnest— a soft, playful parenting platform I designed because I was tired of Pinterest rabbit holes and activity blogs that didn’t get my kid (or me). It uses AI to deliver personalized weekend plans for caregivers based on their child’s energy level, interests, sensory needs, and snack preferences. Because yes, those things matter when you're trying to make it through Saturday with a toddler and a 10 month old.
I’m not a certified web developer. I didn’t go to school for this. But I am deeply curious. I care about solving real problems. And I know how to use the tools available to me, all because I started poking around.
I took my ideas, mixed in the AI tools most of us already have access to, and built something that actually works. Something that benefits my family and hopefully others too. It didn’t require a tech degree. It just required permission to start. You can join the waitlist for early access here.
Your voice. Your vision. Your prompts.
“AI is the fastest redistribution of power and money in the history of mankind. If women do not lead in this AI age, the code, algorithms and platforms will lock us women out of power and wealth for ever.”
*-Shubhi Rao, tech exec and former treasurer of *Alphabet
If we want AI tools that understand what equity looks like, we have to teach it. If we want models that recognize survivor stories, we have to feed it better ones. If we want technology that reflects our values, we have to be the ones shaping the interface.
You don't need to be a tech expert. You just need to be willing to try things. Experiment. Prompt wildly. Laugh at what it gets wrong. Rewrite until it sounds like you.
That starts with showing up. Not just as users, but as creators.
For my daughters
My girls will grow up in a world where AI is woven into everything. And like most things, it will either reflect them... or erase them.
I want that world to see their brilliance, their care, their creativity. Their undeniable wit they so clearly inherited from their mom.
That only happens if women like us—leaders, artists, social workers, strategists, moms writing LinkedIn articles at midnight hoping someone reads them—start using AI to do more than automate. We have to create with it. Shape it. Train it.
We deserve more than a seat at the digital table. We deserve to define what the table looks like.
Ladies...let’s make AI more human by making it more us.
*Inspired by The Times article *The most radical act of feminism? Using AI
