GLAAD Tells AI Builders: If You Skip LGBTQ Safety, You're Coding Your Own Bias 🏳️‍🌈

Artificial intelligence systems are amplifying anti-LGBTQ bias, misinformation, and discrimination in healthcare, employment, housing, and privacy, according to a new report from advocacy organization GLAAD. Released on Wednesday, the report titled "Build for Everyone: A Framework for LGBTQ Representation and Safety in AI," argues that LGBTQ safety should be treated as a core requirement of responsible AI development. GLAAD warns that AI trained on biased or incomplete data can reinforce stereotypes, suppress LGBTQ voices, expose users to privacy risks, and produce discriminatory outcomes as the technology becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life.

"AI is a civil rights issue," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis wrote in the report. "Neutrality is no longer an option. To build AI that is ethical, inclusive, and responsible, tech leaders must proactively embrace intentional practices to create safe products." Areas of concern identified in the study include biased training data, anti-LGBTQ misinformation, discriminatory outcomes in predictive AI systems, content moderation failures, and privacy risks, with the report arguing that AI systems trained on incomplete or inaccurate information about LGBTQ people can reinforce stereotypes. Ellis wrote that responsible AI is best for business and a requirement for future-proofing AI companies. "More than 20 percent of Gen Z is LGBTQ," she wrote. "These are your future employees and consumers." According to a 2023 study by advisory and investment firm LGBT Capital, the global buying power of LGBTQ people is $4.7 trillion, with that figure estimated to reach $33 trillion by 2030. "To put that in perspective, if we were a country, we would be the 4th largest economy in the world," Ellis wrote.

The report lands amid an intensifying debate over AI bias. In May, researchers found leading AI models consistently favored Catholicism while responding less favorably to Jehovah's Witnesses, atheism, and agnosticism, according to the newly formed Consortium for Evaluating Faith and Ethics in AI (CEFE-AI), a collaboration between Baylor University, Brigham Young University, the University of Notre Dame, and Yeshiva University, which released the first results of its AllFaith Benchmark on Tuesday. Earlier this month, former xAI engineer Devin Kim sued xAI and SpaceX, alleging he was fired after warning that Grok lacked adequate safeguards against misinformation and bias. Elon Musk-led xAI is also fighting a legal battle against Colorado over a state law requiring companies to assess and reduce discrimination risks in AI systems used for decisions involving housing, employment, and lending.

GLAAD argues the consequences extend beyond chatbot conversations and image generators into predictive systems that shape real-world outcomes for LGBTQ users. The organization called on AI developers, policymakers, and platforms to adopt the framework's recommendations as a baseline for product design, auditing, and deployment.