AI needs more women. Boston is becoming a place for that.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/07/business/artificial-intelligence-women-boston-culture/

Publish Date: 2026-05-07 08:16:00

The new efforts come amid research (cited by Witherspoon) that women’s jobs are more at risk from AI while at the same time they have less influence over its development and use. A study from the Brookings Institution released in January found that among the roles most at risk due to generative AI, 86 percent of the workers are women. Those roles include administrative positions, cashiers, and back-office workers, Brookings found.

Meanwhile, only 22 percent of AI-related jobs worldwide are held by women, who account for less than 14 percent of senior leadership positions, according to a study by the Interface think tank. That’s even lower than women’s participation rate in the tech sector overall.

“Women are … still underrepresented in the technical, the capital, the decision-making layers that are shaping how AI is built and deployed,” said Felicia Newhouse, who started a group called AI-Powered Women in Cambridge to host conferences and offer educational programming. “That creates a structural imbalance of higher exposure and lower influence.”

Luda Kopeikina, a former GE executive who is now managing partner at VC firm Noventra Ventures, cofounded Women Applying AI for similar reasons.

“It’s a movement to provide the keys to the kingdom for women to actually lead with AI everywhere, in work, in life,” Kopeikina said.

At an evening meetup of Women Applying AI in Boston last week, about 200 women gathered at the High Street Market to network and discuss AI over glasses of rosé and chardonnay. At one table, a startup founder explained how she used AI tools to create an entire website without needing to hire a programmer, a hot trend in AI known as “vibe coding.” Nearby, another attendee excitedly talked up Gamma, an AI app for designing presentations.

Kopeikina’s nonprofit has already attracted more than 1,000 members from all over the country for virtual and in-person events focused on learning about AI tools.

The goal isn’t just to…

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