Geneva, 24 June, 2026.- The Working Group on discrimination against women and girls today warned that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital technologies absent meaningful regulation may deepen existing gender inequalities and create new risks for the human rights of women and girls worldwide.
“AI and digital technologies are reshaping the conditions under which women and girls exercise their rights,” the Working Group said. “Without deliberate, gender-responsive governance, these systems risk amplifying exclusion, reinforcing harmful stereotypes, and exacerbating structural inequalities.”
In a report to the Human Rights Council, the experts highlighted both the transformative potential of AI and its growing role in entrenching discrimination.
“When designed and adopted without recognition of gendered risks, AI tools can become significant obstacles to women’s and girls’ full participation in public life, introducing forms of exclusion and risk across political, civic, and economic spheres,” they said.
The Working Group identified three urgent preconditions for achieving substantive gender equality in the digital age: closing the digital divide, harnessing AI and digital technologies to bolster rather than undermine women’s and girls’ human rights, and promoting their meaningful participation and leadership in public and political life. The experts also echoed calls for multilateral dialogue on AI redlines.
They expressed alarm about some of the most extreme harms, including the gendered impact of AI in armed conflict and lethal autonomous weapons, climate change, mass surveillance and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
“These harms are not hypothetical, they are already being felt around the world,” the Working Group said, stressing that intersecting forms of marginalisation are regularly mirrored and exacerbated by AI.
They also underscored the potential of AI to advance gender equality, including by expanding access to education, healthcare, financial services, and justice – if developed responsibly and inclusively.
The Working Group called on States to adopt human rights-based and feminist approaches to AI governance, strengthen regulation and accountability, and ensure meaningful participation of women and girls in technological development.
The experts urged a global commitment to address unacceptable risks. “Ensuring that technology serves equality, human rights, and human dignity is not optional – it is an obligation now,” they said.