By Jamie O’Malley
Accessing information has never been easier, but confirming that what you’re seeing is real has never been more difficult. The emergence of AI and its adoption into everyday life has created newfound issues for women and girls, as AI has increasingly been used to perpetuate image-based abuse through the use of deepfakes: images or videos manipulated to misrepresent someone’s words or actions. Now, perpetrators do not even need to obtain imagery or videos of their victims, as they can simply generate content of them doing whatever they please. More and more it’s becoming almost impossible to tell the difference between these fake creations and real images.
Today, up to 95% of online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images, and of these, 99% target women. Often the creation of these images is tied to revenge or extortion, with the primary goal being to control, humiliate, and exploit their victims. And this abuse is not exclusively restricted to the internet, as these cases often spill out into the everyday lives of those affected, such as in this case involving a group of girls at a New Jersey High School. This highlights a chilling trend of AI being not just used, but inherently designed to perpetuate gender-based violence against women and girls.
Once again, we see algorithmic biases coming into play. Because AI models are trained on existing online content, they inevitably mirror the digital environment. As misogynistic comments, sexualized depictions of women, and gendered stereotypes proliferate online, these biases are reflected, and often amplified, in AI systems. And when a majority of the people in positions of power at these companies are men, it is far more unlikely that the ways AI harms women and girls will be seen as an actual problem, as it is also reflecting the values of its programmers and creators back at them.
The rise in deepfakes and sexualized content reveals a deeper truth about AI, that technology is not just creating misogyny, but magnifying and replicating the misogyny that it sees already existing online. As long as AI continues to be built in environments that overlook women’s safety, it will continue to reproduce the very inequalities embedded in our everyday lives. Addressing this wave of image-based abuse means confronting gender-based violence at both the algorithmic and human levels.
Sources:
These new tools let you see for yourself how biased AI image models are
AI and anonymity fuel surge in digital violence against women
AI Powered Online Abuse: How AI is amplifying violence against women and what can stop it
New Jersey high school students accused of making AI-generated pornographic images of classmates
Skechers just can’t quit making crappy AI ads
