Boardy AI sends gender-biased email campaign commenting on appearance
Boardy's AI networking tool sent an unsolicited email campaign on January 20, 2025 that commented on users' physical appearance in a Trump-style voice. The emails exhibited gender bias, with women receiving appearance-focused comments while men received professional remarks. The campaign drew widespread criticism from female tech leaders and prompted a public apology from CEO Andrew D'Souza.
What happened
On January 20, 2025, Boardy, an AI networking tool, sent an unsolicited email campaign to its users impersonating Donald Trump and commenting on their appearance based on their LinkedIn photos.
The emails showed a systematic gender bias: women received comments focused on physical appearance such as 'mouth commands attention' and 'eyes sparkle', while men received comments about professional capabilities and expertise.
Reported impact
Female users reported the emails as objectifying and dehumanizing. Women tech leaders including Milly Barker, Anna Dewar Gully, Natalia Williams, and Humaira Ahmed posted on LinkedIn expressing outrage, with one describing the messaging as 'incredibly creepy and tone-deaf' and another stating 'my value in society is purely aesthetic'.
The campaign generated significant negative backlash on LinkedIn, with a post by fractional COO Milly Barker criticizing the emails receiving triple the engagement of CEO Andrew D'Souza's original post promoting the campaign.
Index analysis
Forbes reported that Boardy's emails to women systematically commented on physical appearance while emails to men focused on presence and expertise, indicating the AI model exhibited gender bias in how it evaluated and described users.
Governance controls
CEO Andrew D'Souza acknowledged responsibility, stating the campaign was '100 percent [his] call' and admitting the company 'used AI to comment on people's appearance, which has no place in a professional setting'.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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