AI Is Breaking...and So Is the Promise of Work for Black Women
These headlines tell two different stories, but they’re really the same story.
Eco-Business reports that tech’s diversity crisis is baking bias into the AI systems now shaping everything from hiring to housing. Meanwhile, The 19th warns that unemployment among Black women is spiking, despite their record levels of education and professional experience.
At first glance, these issues look separate. They’re not. They’re deeply connected.
AI Is Only as Fair as the People Who Build It
Every algorithm reflects human choices: what data to include, what outcomes to prioritize, and what “success” looks like. And when those choices come from overwhelmingly white, male teams, the results aren’t neutral, they’re biased.
We’ve already seen it:
Facial recognition systems that misidentify Black faces at alarming rates.
Voice assistants that fail to understand non-standard dialects.
Hiring algorithms that quietly screen out women’s résumés.
This isn’t a bug. It’s a consequence of exclusion.
Meanwhile, Black Women Are Being Shut Out of the Tech Economy
While Big Tech spends billions on “responsible AI,” Black women, many with STEM degrees and certifications, are losing their jobs. According to The 19th, the unemployment rate for Black women is climbing, a warning sign that the so-called “inclusive economy” isn’t delivering on its promises.
Think about the contradiction:
Companies claim there’s a “skills gap.”
Black women with skills are being laid off or passed over.
The same companies building AI to “reduce bias” don’t hire the very people who could make these systems equitable.
You can’t code fairness if the people writing the code aren’t in the room.
The Danger Ahead
If this trend continues, AI will become the new gatekeeper of work, and it will be built on the same structural biases that created inequality in the first place. Imagine an algorithm deciding who gets a job, who qualifies for a loan, who deserves healthcare, when the team behind it has never lived the realities of discrimination.
That isn’t just unfair. It’s dangerous.
The Call to Action
Tech companies love to market AI as the future. But if that future excludes Black women, both from jobs and from the design of the systems running our lives, then it’s a future built on erasure.
Diversity is not a side project. It’s infrastructure. It’s the difference between an equitable future and one where technology becomes the new Jim Crow, automated.
The question isn’t whether AI will change the world. It’s who gets to decide what that world looks like, and who gets left behind.
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