Artificial intelligence may be rattling the job market, but for workers with the right skills, the disruption comes with a lucrative upside.

New research from LinkedIn shows the typical AI-related job listing advertises a salary of roughly $177,000, compared with about $80,000 for a non-AI role. It is the kind of pay gap that makes the AI boom look less like a threat and more like an opportunity, at least for those positioned to take advantage of it.

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The trouble is, women are not sharing equally in that opportunity. Women remain underrepresented across much of the technology industry, and the latest hiring data suggests AI could widen that divide. In the U.S., women accounted for just 26% of hires into jobs requiring AI skills in 2025, compared with 50% of hires into non-AI roles.

Jackie Cook, founder and CEO of Momentum Group, says many women are already doing work that could reasonably be considered AI experience — redesigning workflows, analyzing data or building products — without necessarily thinking of themselves as "AI experts."

"Who decides they're qualified enough to apply can shape the applicant pool before hiring even begins, and if that self-selection compounds with lower AI adoption and employers who define 'AI talent' narrowly, women risk being underrepresented in exactly the roles now commanding a wage premium, carrying today's pay gap into the next generation of work," Cook told Moneywise.

There is evidence that women who use the technology are benefiting from it. Gusto's 2026 research found that 54% of women who used AI to launch a business said the technology made the process easier, compared with 47% of men.

"The women who use it are getting real value," Cook said. "My question is whether enough of them are raising their hand and calling it AI expertise."

The AI ladder is narrowing

Women may be getting filtered out of the AI boom before a resume ever lands on a hiring manager's desk — and when they are hired, they're not climbing as quickly either.

Deepika Sidana, a senior manager and enterprise AI leader who also serves as Professional Development Director for the Society of Women Engineers' New York chapter, says the problem is much bigger than skills or lack thereof.