According to technology experts, artificial intelligence does not well represent the perspectives of Black and Hispanic adults.
Reported as part of the Pew Research Center’s “How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence Report,” public and AI experts said that they believed the experiences and views of Black adults and Hispanic adults are not taken into account when AI tools are being developed.
As part of the survey, only 27% of the experts, who were identified based on 21 AI-focused conferences from 2023 to 2024, and 18% of U.S. adults said that they believed the perspectives of Black adults were key factors in developing AI. Only 17% of U.S. adults and 25% of experts believed the same for Hispanic adults.
Instead, a majority of survey participants said that they believed white men were overwhelmingly represented in the new tech. As a result, concerns for racial bias were expressed with 55% of the public and experts saying that they are fearful of its potential impact.
“I think women, Black women, women of color [are] definitely very underrepresented,” said a Black expert per the study. “People with disabilities are underrepresented … it’s mainly straight White men or men of color who are really investing and excited about these technologies, but … [when] people start to get replaced by technology, it’s always going to affect those underrepresented groups first.”
For this project, we defined “AI experts” as individuals living in the U.S. who demonstrate expertise via their work or research in artificial intelligence or related fields. Refer to the report for a full explanation of the methodology. https://t.co/uQ39FfzmiP
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) April 4, 2025
Although researchers aimed to include reports by racial and ethnic makeup, not enough responses by Black or Hispanic experts were received – a trend they say is indicative of the current AI-led field.
Overall, Black tech workers are underrepresented in their field. According to the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, although Black workers make up 12% of the workforce, they make up only eight percent of tech employees. The gap is expected to widen by 2032. In positions such as software development, data science, engineering and cybersecurity, only an eight percent increase by 2032 is expected amongst Black tech talent, while there’s an expected 14% increase in the fields overall.
“We do not have any African Americans in the department at all … we need to bring these people in so they have a seat at the table. … If it’s the same person over and over again … that is very narrow-minded,” said a Hispanic expert per the Pew Research report.
“I wish that there were more representation, and they would put more focus on that. But … I do see basically the same kind of people over and over again.”
