Chanel CEO Visits Microsoft to Discuss AI Gender Bias

Published Date : 29/10/2025 

Chanel's global CEO, Leena Nair, discusses her experience with ChatGPT during a visit to Microsoft, highlighting the AI's gender bias in representing leadership teams. 

Chanel’s second female global CEO, Leena Nair, who has been a strong advocate for gender diversity in the workplace, recently encountered a surprising and frustrating issue with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Nair and her team visited Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, to explore the capabilities of AI and its potential applications in the luxury industry.

During the visit, Nair and her team decided to test ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities. They asked the AI to show a picture of a senior leadership team from Chanel visiting Microsoft. To their dismay, the image generated was entirely male, with all individuals dressed in suits. “It was a 100% male team, not even in fashionable clothes,” Nair said, expressing her disappointment. “Like, come on. This is what you’ve got to offer?”

Nair’s Silicon Valley trip also included visits to Google and other tech firms, part of Chanel’s broader strategy to invest in AI technology. One notable example is the Lipscanner app, an AI-powered tool introduced in 2021 that allows users to virtually try on lipstick. Despite these advancements, the image generated by ChatGPT failed to reflect the reality of Chanel’s workforce, which is 76% female, including Nair herself. Furthermore, 96% of Chanel’s clientele is women.

An OpenAI spokesperson acknowledged that bias remains a significant issue in AI and stated that the company is continuously working to reduce it. “We are continuously iterating on our models to reduce bias and mitigate harmful outputs,” the spokesperson said in a statement. When Fortune tested the same prompt, ChatGPT generated an image of five women and three men, all appearing to be white, indicating that the AI still struggles with representing diverse demographics accurately.

ChatGPT has a history of exhibiting gender biases. A 2023 study from UCLA found that when ChatGPT and Alpaca, a large-language model built by Stanford University, were asked to write recommendation letters for male and female candidates, they used words like “expert” and “integrity” to describe men, while using terms like “beauty” and “delight” for women. Additionally, large language models have been more likely to assume historically male-dominated occupations are for men, automatically using “he” and “him” pronouns for these roles.

More recent research from the University of California, Berkeley, revealed that ChatGPT exhibited linguistic biases, responding more frequently with stereotyping, demeaning content, or lack of comprehension when users prompted GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 using nonstandard variations of English with Indian, Irish, and Jamaican dialects.

Nair emphasized that integrating AI into Chanel is nonnegotiable but stressed the importance of addressing biases and hallucinations that continue to plague the technology. “AI is everywhere, yes, and it’s going to be transformative in our world, so luxury has to engage with it. Chanel has to engage with it,” Nair said. “It’s so important that we keep the ethics and integrity of what we’re doing. I constantly talk to my friends in tech, all the CEOs, saying, ‘Come on, guys, you gotta make sure that you’re integrating a humanistic way of thinking in AI.’”

In April, the California Institute of the Arts and Chanel’s Culture Fund announced the construction of a first-of-its-kind arts center focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital imaging. The center, scheduled to begin construction this fall, aims to provide students and faculty with the necessary resources to explore and innovate in these fields.

Nair’s commitment to gender diversity is evident in her efforts to increase the company’s percentage of female managers from 38% to more than 60% since she took over as CEO in 2021. Her role as global CEO disrupts a long line of male executives who have helmed the company. Nair is the company’s first Indian CEO and only the second woman to hold the title of global CEO in Chanel’s 114-year history.

Nair’s leadership reflects her desire to continue breaking barriers. “I’ve been the first at every job I’ve done,” she told the Wall Street Journal in 2023. “The first woman, the first brown person, the first Asian, the first Indian—but I don’t want to be the last.” As the head of a company that frequently invokes the radical fashion ideology of its female founder, designer Gabrielle Chanel, Nair is determined to lead Chanel into a future where diversity and inclusion are at the forefront. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS): 

Q: What did Chanel's CEO, Leena Nair, experience when she asked ChatGPT to generate an image of a senior leadership team?

A: ChatGPT generated an image of a 100% male team, dressed in suits, which did not reflect the reality of Chanel’s diverse workforce.

Q: What is Chanel doing to integrate AI into its operations?

A: Chanel is investing in AI technology, including the development of the Lipscanner app, which allows users to virtually try on lipstick. The company is also working on measures to address AI biases and hallucinations.

Q: What are some of the gender biases exhibited by ChatGPT?

A: ChatGPT has been found to use more positive and professional terms for male candidates and more stereotypical and less professional terms for female candidates. It also tends to assume historically male-dominated roles are for men.

Q: What is Chanel’s new arts center focused on?

A: Chanel, in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts, is building an arts center focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital imaging. The center is scheduled to begin construction in the fall.

Q: How has Leena Nair increased gender diversity at Chanel?

A: Since becoming CEO in 2021, Nair has increased the percentage of female managers at Chanel from 38% to more than 60%, reflecting her commitment to gender diversity and inclusion. 

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