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Getty Images The Forbes 2025 AI 50 list dropped this week, showcasing the world’s most promising private companies in artificial intelligence. It’s a snapshot of where the smartest money and boldest bets are being made, and by extension, a glimpse at those entrusted to shape the future of what is deemed the most consequential technology of our time.

But behind the billions in funding and breakthrough technology, one stark reality stands out: this future remains overwhelmingly designed by men. The AI 50 celebrates 50 companies, but only seven have a female founder. And in a striking indictment, five of those seven women navigated not just the tech world, but also international borders, having immigrated to the United States.
Let that sink in. In a sector overflowing with billions in capital yet still alarmingly devoid of women, what does this tell us? These founders aren’t just rare, they are unicorns among unicorns. Statistical miracles in a data-obsessed industry that somehow misses its own glaring blind spot.

AI Top 50: The Women Who Beat the Odds Consider Lin Qiao, co-founder and CEO of Fireworks AI, an app development platform that raised a $52 million funding round in less than two years at a valuation of $552 million. Originally from China, Qiao is part of a new generation of technical founders pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with generative AI.

Fei-Fei Li, also known as