The world’s most popular AI tools are powered by programs from OpenAI and Meta that show prejudice against women, according to a study launched on Thursday by the UN’s cultural organisation UNESCO.

The biggest players in the multibillion-dollar AI field train their algorithms on vast amounts of data largely pulled from the internet, which enables their tools to write in the style of Oscar Wilde or create Salvador Dali-inspired images.

But their outputs have often been criticised for reflecting racial and sexist stereotypes, as well as using copyrighted material without permission.

UNESCO experts tested Meta’s Llama 2 algorithm and OpenAI’s GPT-2 and GPT-3.5, the program that powers the free version of popular chatbot ChatGPT.