AI-powered online abuse: How AI is amplifying violence against women and what can stop it.


AI-powered online abuse


 We already live in a world where at least one in three women experience physical or sexual violence. Enter a host of extremely powerful AI tools, trained on existing gender biases, now enabling that violence to spread further, faster, and in more complex ways. It’s a perfect storm.

While technology-facilitated violence against women and girls has been intensifying – with studies showing 16 to 58 per cent of women worldwide impacted – artificial intelligence is creating new forms of abuse and amplifying existing ones at alarming rates.

The numbers are stark: one global survey found that 38 percent of women have personal experiences of online violence, and 85 percent of women online have witnessed digital violence against others. This isn't just about what happens on screens. What happens online spills into real life easily and escalates. AI tools target women, enabling access, blackmail, stalking, threats and harassment with significant real-world consequences – physically, psychologically, professionally, and financially.

Consider this – developed by male teams, many deepfake tools are not even designed to work on images of a man’s body.

UN Women interviewed feminist activist and author of The New Age of Sexism, Laura Bates, and AI and technology policy expert Paola Gálvez-Callirgos to learn what’s at stake.

Location: 405 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017, USA

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