17 Equity, fairness, and GenAI
“Equity” (or fairness) with GenAI can mean several things. It includes fair access to AI tools, fairness in the information GenAI learns from, and fair chances for everyone to benefit from GenAI.
Not Everyone Has Equal Access to AI Tools
Cost of Tools: GenAI tools can be expensive, not everyone can easily access or use them. Some tools also offer “premium” services through a fee-based subscription. For example, if a instructor asks students to use an GenAI tool that costs money, it can make things unfair for students who can’t afford it.
English-Focused AI: Currently, GenAI models work best in English and only a few other major languages. This means people who speak less common languages might not be able to use these tools at all.
Bias and Fairness
GenAI can reflect human bias: GenAI models often show and even make worse the biases that are already in the information they learned from. This can lead to the AI creating content that is unfair or makes assumptions about people. Some studies found that asking a GenAI tool for help in salary negotiation has the GenAI encouraging women to ask for lower salaries that men with similar education and experience.
Misrepresentation: Groups of people who are often marginalized might be shown in a wrong or stereotypical way in AI-generated content because of the data the AI learned from.
Job Concerns: GenAI can automate creative tasks and jobs that require knowledge. This could affect workers in lower-income jobs or those with less job protection more severely than others.
Education and Learning Gaps
Over-Reliance on GenAI: If learners rely too much on GenAI in their academic work, it could make achievement gaps worse, and change the way their brain operates. This is especially true if students from schools with fewer resources don’t get good guidance on how to use these tools properly.
One study found that the convenience and efficiency that GenAI tools bring to the writing process did not outweigh the cognitive consequences when comparing GenAI-using writers to “brain-only” writers.
