AI is Women's Leadership Opportunity of a Lifetime

Seize the tools, shape the future, and step into leadership.

Hi, I’m Bonnie Marcus and welcome to Own Your Ambition. As a former CEO, published author and executive coach, I offer tools and strategies for women to successfully navigate the complexities of the current workplace.

The use of AI by women in the workplace is the subject of much discussion; women are not embracing it, women are most vulnerable to losing their jobs, women who use it are perceived as less competent.

But what if AI presents a unique opportunity for women to seize the moment, become fluent in it’s workplace application and leverage that knowledge to stand out as leaders?

This week I discuss this opportunity with Anne Murphy, founder of SheLeadsAI, who has not only experienced the benefit of AI for her own company, but is training and consulting others to use this tool to step into leadership.

When Anne Murphy left her in-house career to launch her own company, she never imagined that a global pandemic and long COVID would be the catalyst for her next chapter. For 18 months, she lived with a brain fog so heavy that she only had about two productive hours each day.

But in that narrow window of clarity, she stumbled across something that changed everything: artificial intelligence.

“AI became like a second brain,” Anne recalls. “I could suddenly do all the strategy and brainstorming I needed. I leaned in, used AI as my super-smart intern, and it helped me get my business off the ground.”

With AI by her side, Anne didn’t just survive, she thrived. She joined a community called the AI Exchange, investing thousands of hours to learn, experiment, and collaborate. The experience shaped her into a leader in the AI space. It gave her not only tools, but also perspective: AI wasn’t just a lifeline for her personal health journey. It was the biggest leadership opportunity of our time, especially for women.

The Moment for Women in Leadership Is Now

“AI is a moment unlike any other that we’ve seen, or will ever see, for women to harness a trend for personal benefit and advancement,” Anne says.

She’s right. For decades, women have faced systemic barriers: fewer promotions, less visibility, and being overlooked for stretch opportunities. AI flips the script. It gives women tools to become more visible, productive, and heard. It levels the playing field in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago.

Raising your hand to lead on AI sends a powerful signal:

• I’m ready to tackle the unknown.

• I’m willing to lead something complicated, disruptive, and important.

• I can bring emotional intelligence and psychological safety to the conversation.

And there are multiple ways to do this:

• Quietly leading from the middle, using AI to influence change in your team.

• Advocating to company leadership that you should be the AI lead.

• Taking the leap into a new role, or even launching a consultancy, focused on AI leadership.

What’s critical, Anne stresses, is this: Do not let your career be pigeon-holed in an organization that refuses to adopt AI. If your company is lagging, build your own AI thought leadership. Start a side-hustle. Learn. Share. Employers and clients alike are already demanding AI-ready leaders.

The Disruption—and the Responsibility

Of course, no conversation about AI is complete without addressing its disruption.

“AI is the most disruptive force in human history,” Anne says. And with disruption comes ethical concerns.

• The environmental impact of massive data centers.

• The bias built into facial recognition and hiring algorithms.

• Data exploitation by corporations.

• The way children are growing up interacting with AI.

Here is where women’s leadership becomes non-negotiable.

Women, especially women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and those from marginalized backgrounds, understand what it means to move through systems that weren’t designed for them. They bring a lived experience that acts as an early warning system for inequities.

When hiring algorithms screen women out, we notice.
When surveillance falls disproportionately on certain neighborhoods, we know.
When privacy is eroded for profit, we feel it.

This perspective isn’t just valuable, it’s essential. Without women’s voices, ethical AI risks becoming another male-dominated vision of fairness.

The Practical Benefits of AI for Women Leaders

Beyond the high-level debates about disruption, AI also provides very practical benefits. For women leaders, it can:

• Improve the quality of work.

• Free up time, creating spaciousness in careers and lives.

• Enhance collaboration with peers and clients.

• Serve as a brainstorming partner for strategies, writing, or negotiations.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners can use AI to scale faster, keep costs down, and deliver higher-quality results. Anne herself grew her company’s revenue by $100,000 in a single year—the first year she used generative AI—because she could streamline operations and deliver top-tier results to clients.

Women Leading with AI

Anne shared some examples of how women she knows have embraced AI and are stepping into leadership in powerful ways:

• A woman doubled her salary and joined the C-suite after raising her hand to lead the people side of AI integration.

• An attorney launched her own AI consultancy, leveraging decades in law to advise firms and run her own summit.

• A podcaster turned AI into her niche, landing speaking engagements and consulting opportunities.

• Women mastering AI-powered writing are now ghostwriting for CEOs and thought leaders.

• A colleague at a multinational raised her hand to “be the AI person” in marketing. Today she leads the global AI marketing team.

Each of these stories has one common thread: women saw the moment, raised their hands, and stepped into visibility.

AI Builds a Future for Women

At the core, this isn’t just about careers. It’s about power, representation, and the future we are building.

• Countering bias: Women’s adoption of AI is often under-reported. Leading in AI allows women to reshape narratives that minimize their contributions.

• Ethics and inclusion: Women bring essential lived experiences to conversations about fairness, safety, and representation. Initiatives like Black GPT show how centering women’s voices changes the direction of AI.

• Workplace equity: AI gives women the chance to break free from systemic barriers, become visible, and lead with influence.

Anne puts it plainly:

“Our lived experience and wisdom are imperative right now. Women must not ignore AI. We have to lead.”

The Call to Action

For women leaders, the time to embrace AI is not someday. It’s now.

Because AI is not just about technology, it’s about leadership, ethics, and opportunity.
Because women’s voices are not optional, they are essential.
Because if we don’t shape this future, someone else will and history tells us it won’t be in our favor.

So raise your hand. Learn. Experiment. Step into visibility.

The future of AI leadership is wide open.
And women must be at the front of it.