A HyperFinity survey of 2,000 UK adults finds that 56 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds say AI has left them feeling misunderstood, overlooked or stereotyped, compared with 26 percent of those aged 55 to 65, a generational gap that the company attributes partly to the younger group's higher frequency of use.
The research also found a substantial age divide on the question of whether gender bias exists in AI. Seventy percent of 18 to 24 year-olds said it does, compared with 37 percent of those aged 55 to 65, and 51 percent of all respondents. Seventy-two percent of UK adults reported using an AI tool daily or more, suggesting that the younger group's stronger critical view is forming from direct, frequent experience rather than theoretical concern.
The findings extend to how UK adults perceive individual tools. Thirty-five percent associate ChatGPT with a male gender, while 46 percent describe Siri as female and 69 percent describe Alexa as female. Those associations carry through to how people describe the tools' roles. ChatGPT is described as an "advisor" or "expert" by 31 percent of respondents, while Siri is more than three times more likely to be described as an "assistant" than an "advisor". Alexa is described as a "servant" by 10 percent of respondents, compared with 2.5 percent for ChatGPT.
The research found practical consequences in high-stakes areas. Forty-three percent of UK adults have used AI for medical advice, with women more likely to do so than men (47 percent versus 39 percent). Ten percent say they have personally experienced or noticed gender bias in AI around healthcare, and 17 percent have encountered bias in workplace or hiring AI, rising to 24 percent among 18 to 24 year-olds.
Jessie Stuart, Head of Analytics at HyperFinity, said the generational gap reflects something structural. "This research reflects a structural and societal problem, not an accidental one. AI learns from historical data, and that data carries the imprints of decades of unequal representation — in who built systems, who was studied, and whose needs were centred. The result is technology that can feel neutral on the surface while encoding bias at its foundations."
Stuart added: "The generational gap in these findings is significant. Younger people are not just more frequent users of AI, they are encountering its limitations in ways that feel immediate and personal. That lived experience is driving a clearer-eyed view of what needs to change, and where the responsibility lies. If we are not careful, we risk undoing years of progress towards greater equality in the workplace by building existing biases into the tools increasingly being used to make decisions about people."
The research was conducted by HyperFinity, an AI-powered decision intelligence company based in Leeds. Full findings are available at hyperfinity.ai/gender-bias-in-ai.
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