--- title: "There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents" description: "New research showed that humans paid less money to female-presenting AI agents than male presenting AI agents." date: "2026-10-11" modified: "2026-10-11" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pay-gap-male-and-female-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" --- # There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents ![A male and female android.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* Even female AI agents appear to get paid less than their male counterparts. Researchers from the University of Limerick in Ireland found that gender bias in the workplace still persists in how people interact with AI models, leading to female presenting chatbots to receive less pay, they report in a [study]() published in the journal *Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction* which will be presented at an upcoming conference. In experiments, the researchers had 189 participants work in a virtual reality office place and instructed them to complete work-related tasks with a variety of AI assistants, including those that were either male or female-presenting. To make the stakes more real, the participants were given real money to divide between themselves and the AI assistants. The result: Johan, the male AI, was paid markedly better than "Johanna," the female AI. In all, Johanna received 10.25 percent less for completing the same work, and it was also perceived as less human-like than its male counterpart, the study found. "What is striking about our findings is that the technology behind these AI agents was exactly the same, but people did not treat them in the same way," coauthor Mary Hausfeld, an assistant professor UL's Kemmy Business School, said in a [statement]() about the work. "We often think of AI as being neutral, but the way we design and present these systems can activate those same assumptions and biases that exist in our interactions with other people," she continued. "We don't want to inadvertently reproduce existing inequalities in a new technological setting." The study was intended to investigate how an AI is presented or embodied influences how humans perceive and interact with it, with the researchers noting how these tools are increasingly being framed as "[digital coworkers]()." They tested three different AI representations inside the virtual office environment: as a traditional chatbot; as a desktop robot lacking a face or movement, or as either a male or human avatar that sat next to them in the virtual environment. Overall, the human-like assistants were trusted more than the traditional chatbot and robot representations, and were compensated accordingly. The humans gave them more money and more credit for their contribution to the work. Strangely, though, the participants denied that their behavior was being swayed by the anthropomorphic AIs. In interviews, many participants insisted they preferred non-human-like assistants and that the gender of the AI assistant was irrelevant. Going forward, Haesfeld argues, we need to be a lot more careful about how AI agents are presented. Their appearance, or how they're embodied, shouldn't be treated only as an aesthetic decision. "Such choices may affect how much people trust AI, how they judge its contribution, and even how they financially reward it," she said. **More on AI:** [*Workers Are Spending An Astonishing Amount of Their Own Money On AI for Their Jobs*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()