The Top Women in AI to Know & Why It Matters in 2025

Only 29% of AI professionals are women, which reflects a talent gap and a missed opportunity for the tech industry. If you care about building ethical, user-focused AI, you need women at the table. 

Women in artificial intelligence, including Blaze.tech’s Nanxi Liu and Justyna Wójcik, are already influencing the field through inclusive design, responsible governance, and no-code accessibility.

In this article, we’ll cover: 

• An overview of the 100 Women in AI list

• Why women’s leadership in AI matters now more than ever

• What makes Nanxi Liu and Justyna Wójcik’s work at Blaze impactful

• Where the AI industry still needs to improve gender representation

Let’s now discuss the 100 women in AI list. 

The Prestige of the 100 Women in AI List

The 100 Women in AI list honors trailblazing female leaders who are transforming artificial intelligence with ethical insight, technical innovation, and inclusive vision. This prestigious recognition celebrates the achievements of top women in AI in a historically male-dominated field. 

It provides aspiring women in tech, DEI leaders, and AI advocates with a vital platform. These stakeholders can use it to discover mentors, source speakers, and inspire the next generation, shaping responsible AI development.

This annual list showcases the top women in AI and related leadership positions. These women work in positions across academia, established companies, and startups. They shape cutting-edge AI applications and influence how the technology is built and governed. 

These honorees reflect a spectrum of expertise — from natural language processing to AI ethics and healthcare automation. By recognizing these leaders, the initiative counters the underrepresentation of women in AI. This helps open doors for girls and younger women interested in pursuing a career in AI.

Current and past honorees include the following:

• Mira Murati, CTO of OpenAI and a key force behind ChatGPT 

• Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League 

• Fei-Fei Li, Professor at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, known for creating ImageNet

The women on these lists are helping to build a future where AI serves everyone equitably. The 100 Women in AI list fosters a richer, more inclusive vision of technological progress by highlighting applied AI talent across sectors.

Meet Blaze Co-Founders Nanxi Liu & Justyna Wójcik: Redefining Access to AI

Nanxi Liu and Justyna Wójcik, co-founders of Blaze.tech and 2 women defining AI, are on the 100 Women in AI list. Their product, Blaze, is a no-code enterprise software building platform that features powerful AI functionalities. 

Blaze allows non-technical users to create tools like client portals, inventory apps, and healthcare software, without programming.

Nanxi and Justyna built Blaze to accommodate useful, time-saving AI features. These include AI-generated text responses, which help teams automate customer support and internal communication. You can also integrate AI form autofill for rapid data entry in retail inventory tracking, AI document summarization to simplify lengthy reports, and AI search tools that understand natural language queries across your databases. 

Let’s look at Nanxi and Justyna’s backgrounds and what inspired them to create Blaze.

Nanxi Liu

Nanxi Liu, co-founder and co-CEO of Blaze.tech, is a serial entrepreneur recognized for transforming complex technologies into accessible, business-ready tools. Her journey began at UC Berkeley, where she co-founded Nanoly Bioscience, a biotech company developing polymers to eliminate vaccine refrigeration. 

She later co-founded Enplug, a digital signage software company acquired in 2021. These ventures earned her a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list and Fortune's Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs.

At Blaze, Liu aims to give anyone a platform to develop their own enterprise software through a simple no-code environment. Beyond her entrepreneurial endeavors, Liu serves on the CarParts.com and Grupo Proeza boards and is involved in initiatives supporting foster youth and community development. Her multifaceted career exemplifies a commitment to innovation, accessibility, and social impact in technology.

Justyna Wójcik

Justyna Wójcik, co-founder and co-CEO of Blaze, brings a unique blend of financial acumen and technological innovation. From her background in finance leadership roles at companies like Titan International Finance Ltd., PRMO Properties UK Ltd., and For Gool Co. Ltd., Wójcik identified a critical gap: The inaccessibility of advanced AI tools for non-technical teams. 

Motivated to make software creation accessible, Justyna partnered with Nanxi to launch Blaze.

Wójcik played a critical role in securing $3.5M in pre-seed funding from Flybridge Capital and MaC Venture Capital. She also helped develop Blaze’s AI assistant, which enables users to configure custom apps using natural language. This tool helps streamline operations in the healthcare, finance, and logistics sectors. 

Why Women in AI Leadership Positions Matter

Women in AI leadership roles are vital for building inclusive, ethical, and high-performing AI systems. They help combat algorithmic bias, diversify data perspectives, and drive innovation that benefits everyone. 

Female representation also fuels mentorship, networking, and access for emerging talent. Women in artificial intelligence leadership roles inspire the next generation to pursue AI-focused careers. Their guidance and example can help more women and girls overcome barriers to advancement. 

More women at the top means better AI and a more equitable tech future. When women do lead, they often bring a people-first approach to tech. Companies like Blaze prioritize no-code accessibility and ethical AI. Co-founded by women, they focus on usability over flashy, insular technical feats. That shift is essential for AI’s future.

How Are Women Defining the Future of Artificial Intelligence?

Women in AI are transforming the field by shaping more ethical, inclusive, and user-focused technologies. This includes leading research on algorithmic fairness. It also means building accessible platforms that make AI available to everyone.

Women are creating a more balanced and equitable AI ecosystem by challenging industry norms and redefining leadership. Their work ensures that artificial intelligence reflects a broader range of human experience. This helps drive innovation while addressing the barriers that have existed in tech for a long time.

A People First Approach

Women-led AI startups are reshaping priorities across sectors like healthcare, education, and business automation. Instead of centering only on theoretical breakthroughs, many are moving toward a deployment-first mindset. This approach is focused on building real-world tools that serve people. 

In healthcare, for example, companies like Blaze, Alife Health, and Maven Clinic exemplify this shift. These no-code platforms blend AI with practical, accessible, and human-centered virtual care systems. This demonstrates that usability and tangible impact are just as crucial as technical sophistication.

User experience and bias mitigation have become core competencies. The result is a generation of AI products reflecting the needs of diverse users. By prioritizing collaboration, transparency, and equity, women in AI are setting new benchmarks for responsible innovation. 

The Gender Gap in AI: Still a Work in Progress

The gender gap in AI remains a major challenge. Women still represent only a fraction of the field’s leadership and technical roles. According to a recent survey done by a global talent and recruiting agency, the professional AI male-to-female ratio is 71% male and 29% female. 

This underrepresentation limits innovation, reinforces algorithmic bias, and reduces mentorship opportunities for rising talent. Addressing this gap is essential for building ethical, inclusive AI systems that serve everyone. Here are key initiatives actively working to close the gender gap in AI:

• Global mentorship networks: Programs like AI4ALL and Women in AI offer structured mentorship and hands-on training to early-career women, helping them gain technical skills and career confidence.

• Women-focused accelerators: Initiatives such as All Raise and Zane Access provide funding, networking, and business development support specifically for women-led AI startups, addressing the funding disparity head-on.

• Founder spotlights & visibility campaigns: Platforms like 100 Women in AI and AI Magazine’s Top Women in AI lists highlight diverse female leaders, creating role models and raising public awareness of their contributions.

• Community-driven learning hubs: Organizations such as She Codes and Women Who Code offer technical workshops, coding bootcamps, and peer support, fostering community and accessibility in tech spaces.

• Bias auditing in AI systems: Researchers and advocacy groups are calling for and implementing audits of large language models to identify and mitigate gender bias in algorithms and datasets.

• Policy and advocacy work: Groups like Algorithmic Justice League, led by women like Joy Buolamwini, push for legislative standards that promote fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI systems.

• University and industry partnerships: Collaborations between academia and tech companies are creating pipelines that recruit, train, and place women in AI roles at scale.

Together, these initiatives are shifting the trajectory for women in AI. They’re building stronger pipelines, increasing visibility, and embedding equity into the AI industry. By supporting diverse talent and inclusive innovation, these efforts are aiming to close the gender gap. Ultimately, the future of AI depends on everyone having a seat at the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the 100 Women in AI List?

The 100 Women in AI list honors female leaders who are transforming artificial intelligence with ethical insight, technical innovation, and inclusive vision. It’s a platform that combats underrepresentation by showcasing diverse role models across academia, startups, and enterprise. 

For aspiring women in tech, it’s a powerful discovery tool for mentors, speakers, and future collaborators shaping responsible AI.

Why Is Women’s Leadership in AI Important?

Women’s leadership in AI ensures the development of systems that reflect diverse human experiences. Female leaders bring critical perspectives to algorithmic fairness, ethics, and usability. These areas are often overlooked in male-dominated spaces. 

Additionally, women’s presence in the AI space helps combat bias, drive inclusive innovation, and create mentorship pathways for the next generation. The more women at the top means better, more equitable AI for everyone.

What Does Blaze Do in the AI Space?

Blaze is a no-code enterprise software development tool that blends powerful AI tools into its platform — without requiring users to write a single line of code. Co-founded by Nanxi Liu and Justyna Wójcik, Blaze allows non-technical teams to build everything from client portals and healthcare software to inventory tracking and workflow automation.

Blaze features AI capabilities like smart search, document summarization, and response generation.

What Makes Blaze Different From Other AI Startups?

Blaze stands out by prioritizing real-world usability. It focuses on accessible, user-centric design, featuring a no-code platform that anyone can use. Its co-founders are women who understand the barriers non-technical teams face. They’ve built Blaze to solve those. 

With a people-first philosophy, the platform is bringing AI to the non-technical folks and redefining who gets to build with it.

How Does Blaze Support AI Development Without Coding?

Blaze allows you to integrate AI into your software via intuitive, no-code workflows. The platform features a no-code drag-and-drop interface that’s similar to photo editing software. It contains premade components like forms, AI functions, and other elements. This lets you automate customer support, summarize documents, autofill forms with smart data inputs. 

The platform also lets you search across internal databases using an AI-based prompt. This enables you to find needed data more rapidly than manually opening each database and executing “Ctrl+F.”

With Blaze, AI development becomes less about programming and more about providing anyone with the tools to solve real problems.

Discover How Blaze Is Building the Future of AI

Did reading about Nanxi and Justyna pique your interest in building your next software application with Blaze? Here’s how Blaze, a company founded by 2 pioneering women AI professionals, can help your business:

• The platform offers an AI-enabled drag-and-drop interface that harnesses OpenAI’s GPT-4 to organize data or power chatbots. 

• Blaze gives you access to prebuilt templates and elements so you can get your app building started quickly. You’ll be able to customize workflows, create appointment forms and inventory management databases, and more.

• When you onboard with Blaze, their helpful implementation team will ensure you know how to use the platform. They’ll teach you every key feature to make your app-building experience painless. When you finish creating your software, they’ll ensure it gets published and maintain it for flawless functionality. 

• Blaze is HIPAA-compliant and features enterprise-grade security — crucial for women in AI building healthcare tools. This makes the platform a go-to for businesses looking to develop a healthcare app. 

Ready to start building AI-powered apps for your business? Schedule a demo and try Blaze today.