The Idea That "AI Is a Man's Stage" [AI Objection Note]

History of Gender Bias in the IT Industry
In the 19th Century, "Computer" Meant "Woman"
Women Excelled in WWII Codebreaking and ENIAC Development
Diversity Remains the Foundation of Success in the AI Era

Editor's NoteExamining failures is the shortcut to success. 'AI Error Notes' explores failure cases related to AI products, services, companies, and individuals.

"AI Prodigy Girl Born in 1995"

"AI Prodigy Girl Offered a 2 Billion KRW Annual Salary"

"The Prodigy Girl Who Led the Development of DeepSeek"

The aftermath of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek continues. There have been several reports about developer Luo Fuli (羅福莉). The above three sentences are media expressions describing Luo Fuli.

Misunderstandings and Prejudices Embedded in the Term ‘Prodigy Girl’

The Idea That "AI Is a Man's Stage" [AI Objection Note]

Luo Fuli (羅福莉), the "AI genius girl born in 1995" who gained fame for receiving a recruitment offer with an annual salary of 2 billion KRW from Xiaomi founder Lei Jun. She majored in Computer Engineering at Beijing Normal University. Weibo capture.

When a young woman stands out in academia or industry, we often use the expression ‘prodigy girl.’ It was probably intended solely as praise.

However, it also contains gender bias, stereotypes, and double standards. The nickname ‘prodigy girl’ shifts the focus away from the rightful praise Luo Fuli deserves. It emphasizes her being a woman more than the fact that she achieved groundbreaking AI development results in her early twenties.

If Luo Fuli were male, would she have been called a ‘prodigy young man’? Most likely, his achievements and technical accomplishments would have been the headline.

The term ‘prodigy girl’ is used in a way that highlights femininity and age beyond mere ability or achievement. This makes women's accomplishments seem exceptional and unusual, preventing them from being evaluated by the same standards as men.

In fact, such prejudice is not unusual. The ‘male-dominated culture’ in the IT industry has long been criticized.

Emily Chang exposes pervasive sexism in Silicon Valley in her book Brotopia. It is full of cases where female engineers faced sexual insults and discrimination from their first day on the job.

According to a 2017 report by the Financial Times (FT), women accounted for only 18.3% of technical roles in 10 major IT companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. This was a very low figure compared to other industries.

It is no different in Korea. Looking at the gender ratio of ICT professionals in Korea, as of 2017, women accounted for 21.2% and men 78.8%, with men making up the majority (Korea Women's Development Institute Gender Statistics·2021).

So, was the IT industry originally a male domain? Is it a field where men are naturally better? Looking back at history, we can see that this is not the case.

IT Industry Was Originally a Stage for Women

Women keypunch operators affiliated with IBM in the 1930s. At that time, they used keypunch machines similar to typewriters to punch holes in paper cards to store information. IBM

The history of computers, IT, and AI is deeply soaked with the blood, sweat, and tears of women.

In 19th century Britain, the term ‘computer’ was almost synonymous with ‘woman.’ At that time, ‘computer’ referred to a profession specializing in calculations. The majority of these calculators were women.

Female calculators computed and analyzed vast astronomical observation data, laying the foundation for modern astronomy. Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921), a calculator at Harvard Observatory, revolutionized the method of measuring cosmic distances.

During World War II, women were at the forefront of codebreaking. Two-thirds of the 10,000 staff at the Allied communication center Bletchley Park, which decrypted the German military’s Enigma code, were women.

Women also played key roles at NASA. Katherine Johnson, the real-life protagonist of the movie Hidden Figures, was responsible for calculating the trajectory of Apollo 11. The first six programmers of the first general-purpose computer ENIAC were all women. They manually calculated hundreds and thousands of equations one by one.

Movie poster of Hidden Figures

Consider the content of a 1967 article titled ‘The Computer Girls’ published by the American magazine Cosmopolitan.

“Programming is like planning a dinner... You have to think ahead and plan everything so that when something is needed, it can be used. Programming is natural and instinctive for women who excel in patience and attention to detail.”

There is further evidence that the computer industry was female-friendly until the 1960s. IBM’s advertisements at the time targeted women as a primary audience. Many computer operation manuals also featured women as models.

Women Gradually Pushed Out

IBM's 1960s advertising poster. IBM

Changes began to appear after the 1970s. As computers emerged as high value-added industries, men flooded in, and the field gradually became regarded as professional. Programming began to be seen not as simple clerical work but as part of computer engineering.

Universities started offering computer-related degree programs. Since STEM education was (even then) considered a male domain, newly established computer engineering followed that pattern.

The trend in advertising also changed. During the PC revolution of the 1970s and 80s, personal computers (PCs) were portrayed as ‘boys’ toys.’ These generations later became the main actors in Silicon Valley.

A meme criticizing the diversity of Silicon Valley. Reddit capture

The ‘garage startup’ myth was mainly formed around young male engineers. A culture emphasizing long working hours, extreme competition, and risk-taking naturally took root. In an atmosphere where women’s housework and caregiving labor were taken for granted, it was structurally difficult for women to endure.

Through these gradual changes, the male-centered IT culture we see today was firmly established. The misunderstandings and prejudices prevalent in the IT industry are the result of socio-cultural factors, not inherent or technical inevitabilities.

AI Revolution Can Succeed Even More with Diversity and Inclusion

The New York Times (NYT) published an article in February 2019 titled ‘The Secret History of Women in Coding.’ It explains that although the current computer programming field is male-dominated and rife with sexism, it once achieved much better gender equality.

Actual history shows that the IT industry was not an exclusive male stage. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, manual calculations and early programming tasks were mainly handled by women, who demonstrated outstanding abilities and contributed to technological advancement. However, with social and cultural changes and programming becoming a branch of engineering, a male-centered culture was formed. This culture continues even today in the AI era.

But this should not be accepted as a natural phenomenon. As computer science history shows, gender roles and expectations have been socially constructed. They can certainly change.

The lesson from history is that technology itself is gender-neutral. The male-centered culture is a result of social structures and cultural prejudices, not essential technical demands. The ‘AI prodigy girl Luo Fuli’ is a trace of such culture.

AI is leading a new industrial revolution. More talent is needed. From the education stage, equal opportunities for technical education should be provided to women and minorities, and companies should implement policies to actively discover and support talent from diverse backgrounds. If AI is a core technology shaping humanity’s future, gender diversity in its development process will be even more important.

According to a McKinsey report, organizations with high diversity and inclusion indices perform better than those without. They secure more participants, hire better talent, and maintain lower employee turnover rates.

Re-examining past cases where women contributed to IT development and creating an environment where anyone can demonstrate their abilities regardless of gender will be a way to accelerate innovation in the AI era.