One reason this doesn’t surprise me is this 2005 study that showed that people refine their search criteria for jobs *after they look at candidates* to prefer the men.

In one study, participants were shown two officers for police chief. One was described as "book-smart," the other as "street-smart." When the male officer was the book-smart one, participants said “book smarts”were most important for a police chief. When the descriptions were swapped so the male officer was the street-smart one, participants shifted and said street smarts were what mattered most. Either way, the male candidate won. (This disappeared if they made people write down criteria first - the importance of a well-specified JD).

But during this, participants redefined the criteria for success to match whatever credentials the preferred (male) candidate happened to have.

I would guess a similar thing is happening in the recent study, but with AI. Male is preferred, so an AI-assisted resume is fine.