As artificial intelligence assistants become more integrated into the workplace, even they may not be spared from the gender pay gap, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Zurich, University of Limerick and SKEMA Business School placed 189 workers in a virtual reality office and assigned them tasks to complete with AI agents, including human-like agents presenting as male or female.
The participants were given money to split between themselves and the AI agents for completing the tasks “to recreate a real-world transaction,” according to a news release.
Researchers found that AI agents with a female appearance were paid 10% less than the male-presenting ones for completing the same work using the same technology.
“As AI agents become more common in the workplace, we need to think carefully about the characteristics we give them and the behaviours those choices may encourage. We don’t want to inadvertently reproduce existing inequalities in a new technological setting,” said Mary Hausfeld, assistant professor at the University of Limerick’s Kemmy Business School and a co-author of the report.
As AI agents are developed and deployed, companies should consider their appearance and presentation, Hausfeld said.
“Such choices may affect how much people trust AI, how they judge its contribution, and even how they financially reward it,” the researcher said.
In the human workforce, women earned about $0.82 per dollar earned by men in 2025, a July analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by resume builder MyPerfectResume found. That uncontrolled gap calculates out roughly to a $12,324 difference in yearly earnings, per 2025 data.
At the same time, women only made up 26% of hires in the fast growing AI field in 2025, LinkedIn research showed in August. And in the highest-paying AI roles, women had lower representation; 1 in 5 held head of AI jobs, while a quarter had director of AI positions.