Actress Reese Witherspoon warned women that their jobs are three times more likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) than those of men unless they begin learning how to use the technology.
The “Morning Show” actress took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a story about meeting with the women in her book club and discovering that out of the 10 women, only three used AI and only one felt that she was using it the right way.
“So, if three out of 10 women are the only ones using AI, that means 70% of that group is not keeping up,” Witherspoon said. “The thing I’ve learned about technology is if you don’t get a little bit of understanding from the very beginning, it just speeds past you. So you have to have little bits of learning just to keep up.”
In the caption, she also wrote, “The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. We don’t want to be left behind. So … do you want to learn with me?”
Fox News Digital reached out to Witherspoon’s representatives for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Witherspoon’s claim likely originated from a United Nations’ International Labour Organization and Poland’s National Research Institute report last year, which found that 9.6% of jobs traditionally held by women, such as secretary and administrative positions, were likely to be replaced by AI in the coming years.
This was compared to only 3.5% of jobs traditionally held by men.
Witherspoon previously encouraged women and filmmakers to begin learning how to use AI during a Glamour interview in September.
“I’m always looking forward to how media is evolving and how I can help be part of bringing women along in those emerging industries. And now we’re doing it with AI. It’s so, so important that women are involved in AI … because it will be the future of filmmaking,” Witherspoon said.
“And you can be sad and lament it all you want, but the change is here. It will never be a lack of creativity and ingenuity and actual physical manual building of things. It might diminish, but it’s always going to be the highest importance in art and in expression of self,” she added.
The use of AI in Hollywood has been a hot topic in recent years as actors and other creatives fear being replaced by technology. AI was one of the key issues behind the 2023 writers and actors’ strike.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
