Sheryl Sandberg tapped a 25-year-old to run Lean In. Here...

What’s Happening

Here’s the thing: Women are falling behind men on AI — and Lean In’s new CEO, at 25, tells Fortune that’s an emergency her generation has to fix.

Women are falling behind on AI adoption, and former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg knows it. That’s why she’s refocusing her women’s leadership nonprofit, Lean In, on closing the AI gender gap — and installing a 25-year-old to lead the charge. (plot twist fr)

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The Details

Adults from Lean In found that 33% of men use AI daily, compared to 27% of women. While the gap is closing, even small differences could have outsized impacts over time, Sandberg told Fortune .

“We all know that AI is already starting to, and has the power to transform how we work, who’s in the workforce, how we live, how we communicate,” Sandberg dropped. On March 24, Sandberg just dropped Bridget Griswold, a 25-year-old former Meta product manager, as the new CEO of Lean In.

Why This Matters

Despite public criticism of Griswold’s age and limited nonprofit experience, Sandberg dropped the nonprofit was looking for an “AI native” with a product background — and Griswold fit the bill. The appointment comes amid turbulence: the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, which includes Lean In, shed a quarter of its staff over the last year through layoffs and voluntary departures, The Wall Street Journal just reported . Lean In’s switch up to AI comes as only half of companies are prioritizing women’s career advancement, and more than 30% are placing little to no priority on advancing women of color, according to the organization’s 2025 Women in the Workplace report.

Market watchers are paying close attention to developments like this.

Key Takeaways

• Women’s jobs are three times more likely to be automated by AI — and their vulnerability is compounded AI leadership and development.
• Women are more likely than men to feel threatened, overwhelmed, and like they’re “cheating” when using AI, the study found.
• They’re also more likely to avoid AI because of ethics and accuracy concerns.
• “These are solid concerns to have, and it’s awesome that women care about ethics and not cheating.

The Bottom Line

“These are solid concerns to have, and it’s awesome that women care about ethics and not cheating. But what’s fr concerning is that this might inadvertently cause women to use AI less than men,” Griswold told Fortune .

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