Deepfakes are not a new concern. We’ve been dealing with CGI and face swapping tools as early as the 90s. But it was only five years ago that governments started legislating against the use of deepfakes, primarily focused on their relationship surrounding the integrity of elections or political campaigns.
As these tools slowly seep into public hands, becoming cheaper and faster to produce, the speed at which this technology accelerates carries with it our current attitudes and morals that are embedded in our society. Between 2023-2024, schools around the world were faced with a crisis that they had not prepared for. Boys as young as 13 were creating images of their female classmates and teachers, using apps like ClothOff to spread deepfake pornography.
Recently, this type of abuse has shape-shifted, infiltrating into social media platforms where you no longer need to pay to demean and intimidate women. Whilst it is typically politicians and celebrities, we fail to remember that the majority of these cases involve ordinary women and girls. I spoke to Daisy Dixon, a professor at Cardiff University who was subject to the Grok AI scandal over the Christmas Period.
Users were taking women’s profile pictures online and using them to generate AI images of them in bikinis. Dixon describes this as a ‘Russian Doll situation’, where the images are not only sent to her, but spiral deep within the comments on her posts. Whilst these images can be removed, the intricate layers of social media make it a terrifying place for images to get lost forever.
Misogyny has seeped into our algorithms, getting lost in the dark corners of the internet. This goes beyond the typical realm of the manosphere, revenge porn and image-based violence have long circulated incel chat forums. Throwing AI into the mix of lonesome imbeciles and porn-crazed weirdos creates a new type of violence.
Throwing AI into the mix of lonesome imbeciles and porn-crazed weirdos creates a new type of violence
This one can’t be hidden behind the familiar cries of victim-blaming. It is no surprise when money-crazed white men, like Elon Musk, get their hands on this technology, they induce misogynistic harm into the virtual world. His wimpy reaction (calling it an attack on free speech) is not a coincidence.
Instead, his strategised response allows him to perpetuate sexually violent online spaces as a mere by-product. In response, Keir Starmer calls it ‘disgusting’ and ‘shameful’. But his words are (yet again) feeble and useless, offering no support or push for change when regulation is absolutely necessary.
This isn’t to install worry or to stop individuals from posting on social media. Not only is that exactly what they want, it is yet another dimension of misogyny to control through fear. Whilst it is possible to create ethical AI, when it accelerates at such a rate, we don’t stop to think what kind of inbuilt biases it may regurgitate.
Or what kind of oppression it may continue to produce. Image: Unsplash.