herAI.tech

Mission

AI is being built now. By whom, and for whom?

We are building tomorrow's technology with yesterday's power structures. herAI.tech® exists to break that, while we still can.

Mission

herAI.tech® makes sure women help build, implement, fund and govern AI. And that women who risk being left out of the AI transition get full access to it. From boardroom to classroom.

Vision

AI is shaped by the people who have to live with it. Wherever AI is built, women help decide which technology is made, with what money and for whom. So AI doesn't automate today's inequality, but tomorrow's opportunities.

The moment is now

The systems that decide on job applications, loans and diagnoses are being trained today. Soon they will reach hospitals, town halls and small businesses.

A selection system that learns from ten years of decisions repeats them for the next thousand applicants. What is captured in AI now will last for years. In five years it's no longer a design choice, but infrastructure.

The gap is measurable

22%

of students in AI-related programmes in the Netherlands are women.

CBS, AI monitor 2024
31%

of AI leadership roles are held by women, compared with 39% of all leadership roles.

LinkedIn, The Triple Penalty, 2026
17%

of executive directors at Dutch listed companies are women, compared with 44% of supervisory directors.

Female Board Index 2025
7.3%

of C-suite AI roles at Dutch AI companies are held by women. Average across 27 countries: 13.3%.

LinkedIn, The Triple Penalty, 2026
4 of 41

startups at Brightlands were founded by a woman.

herAI.tech®, September 2026

The pattern is the same everywhere: the closer to the decision, the smaller the share of women.

2036

The goal of Power Shift Partner Brightlands: by 2036, 100 startups on campus are founded or led by a woman, half of the 200 the campus expects in 10 years. herAI.tech® measures the progress. See the progress

Visibility is not enough

Diversity has long been confused with visibility. A woman on stage doesn't change who decides afterwards. It's about who gets the mandate, who controls the money, and who can say: we stop this.

Laws and quotas count seats. That has brought progress at the table, but not where decisions are made. Laws count seats. Earned Seat tests voices.

The herAI.tech® standard

Earned Seat: a seat with a voice

Earned Seat is an independently assessed recognition for organisations where women demonstrably co-decide, co-sign and co-own, including on AI. It doesn't test whether the seat is there, but whether it's plugged in. Only levels 3, 4 and 5 lead to recognition.

  1. 0

    Empty table

    No woman in the highest body.

  2. 1

    Seat

    Women are at the table, but are informed late.

  3. 2

    Voice

    Perspectives are asked for, but decisions don't demonstrably change.

  4. 3

    Influence

    Her perspective demonstrably changes decisions.

    Recognition
  5. 4

    Authority

    She can make decisions, commit money and stop things.

    Recognition
  6. 5

    Impact

    Her mark is visible in strategy, products and culture.

    Recognition
Influence Gap = % women at the table − % women carrying decisions

A board of ten with four women (40%), where one in ten decision-makers is a woman (10%), has a gap of 30 percentage points. The closer to zero, the more real the seat.

Earned Seat also looks at who decides on AI: who selects AI applications and who may stop them. Development and assessment are strictly separated; an independent committee decides. The first Founding Seats on 8 March 2027 are pilot recognitions.

Five pillars

  • Coalition & influence

    Leaders and influential women at one table, each committing to their own goal within the herAI.tech® standard.

  • Knowledge & leadership

    Equipping women, from boardroom to beginner.

  • Visibility & stories

    Role models, media and a podcast that give the movement a face.

  • Talent & opportunity

    Schools, young people from age 12, mentoring and hackathons.

  • Research

    The foundation: our own data on who decides, including the lioness research and Earned Seat. We count how many women are appointed, funded and recommended. Visibility is a means, never the result.

From theory to practice

The world map: who makes an impact on AI?

The world map is a long-running study by herAI.tech® and Maastricht University. We map who shapes AI, where in the world, and what AI means for the position of women.

The study starts at Web Summit in Lisbon (9 to 12 November 2026). There, the herAI.tech® team interviews women from different countries. After that, the research travels with fourteen lionesses.

  1. 01

    Fourteen lionesses

    Each 3D-printed figure has its own NFC tag and its own colour.

  2. 02

    Taken home

    A female AI leader takes the lioness back to her country.

  3. 03

    Passed on

    She passes it to someone in her country who makes an impact on AI.

  4. 04

    Scan and fill in

    Whoever receives the lioness scans the tag, chooses who gave it to them and completes the interview. That's how the dotted line on the map grows.

Each lioness draws her own line across the world. We only show names and places with consent; interview answers stay anonymous.

View the world map

If we change nothing now, we automate the power structures too.

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