Cartoon by Kenneth Marquez
Published by: Marino Peralta
Date Published: April 8, 2024
Time Published: 7:30 AM
It is undeniable that AI provided great benefits and set the stage for further expansion of today’s society. However, with the inevitable expansion of AI, it is important to have a direct control on how it is perceived and used by the masses. Mia Janin “was still a child and still in the process of maturing into adulthood” when she one day decided to kill herself; a decision driven by the relentless bullying that she got and the fact that she was heavily sexualized because of deep faked images online [1].
Her case paints the image of how Artificial Intelligence is starting to be used in degrading women; something that has been done since the olden time yet still persists in creative ways more than one. Truly horrifying work that transcends time and space, all to bring shame and control over one sex.
Recently, Taylor Swift experienced something I could only describe as inhumane if not disgusting. Taylor, a successful woman who contributed and dedicated her whole life to bringing music and melodies to people’s lives, was reduced to a sex symbol in front of the online masses through the disgusting means of AI. Edited pictures of Miss Swift floated all over twitter, depicting her in very sexually suggestive poses and expressions. These images were up for hours and had over 47 million views, before being taken down [2]. Picture yourself as a superstar and have proven yourself to be a very successful woman, only to be objectified as some material by a random user online. Some can argue that ‘they’re just pictures’ but one cannot deny how humiliating it would be to see yourself being feasted upon by people online for something you didn’t even do.
Sad as their cases are, these are not even the only cases related to sexualization through AI. There are hundreds and thousands of similar cases out there that remain unheard because we choose to diminish it as “it’s just a picture”. These pictures are not just pictures; they are pieces of every person that are violated via AI, trampled and dismantled for fun.
Open Ai recently introduced its new AI model called ‘Sora’. It is a text-to-video model that can generate videos up to a minute long based on the user’s prompt [3]. It is such a powerful AI tool that would really be useful to some people but it’s so scary to imagine how these changes would pose a great threat to the well-being of children. Imagine how many children are at risk when this kind of technology continues down the path it is currently treading. A world where a single paragraph could create actual videos of children and women, showing them doing inappropriate things without their knowledge and consensus.
On the other side of the coin, however, are the fascinating and disturbing ways men try to ‘dignify’ women by covering them up using AI. DignifAI is launched by 4chan with the purpose of ‘covering’ women up, concealing tattoos, and adding children to some photos [4]. Men online started the “#DignifAI movement” to launch a wide-scale act of putting clothes on ‘degenerate women’ online for fun [5]. It may seem out of goodwill from the surface but the issue of objectification lies within. Since we are so used to associating “objectifying women” with sexually harassing them, we fail to notice that doing the opposite is basically just the same. Putting clothes on women is the same, if not worse, to removing their rights to their own body. It seems as though some people just can’t comprehend the fact that posting your own naked body is entirely different from someone else leaking them even though the result looks the same.
These situations create certain questions such as ‘why is it that people, some men in particular, feel the need to sexually objectify women?’ It's the re-assertion of dominance over women by sexually objectifying them [6]. Regardless of whether women dress ‘modestly’ or ‘degenerately’, they cannot escape the wrath of patriarchal mentality that dictates how they should present themselves. The very simple concept of consent goes way over the heads of these AI users as they feel entitled to determine how a woman should submit herself.
The people, including the policy making bodies, should ensure that such technology does not stray away from its intention. If AI continues to tread this spiral, women and children would be truly reduced to nothing but dolls to be moved around however people see fit, now with the terrifying aid of Artificial Intelligence.
References:
[1] Kalsi, G., & Price, O. (2024, January 27). Father of Mia Janin who took her own life after being tormented at school says none of the bullies have apologised for their part in her unhappiness before her death. ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13013313/Mia-Janin-father-says-none-bullies-apologised.html
[2] Henry, N., & Witt, A. (2024, February 1). Taylor Swift deepfakes: new technologies have long been weaponised against women. The solution involves us all. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. https://theconversation.com/taylor-swift-deepfakes-new-technologies-have-long-been-weaponised-against-women-the-solution-involves-us-all-222268
[3] OpenAI. (n.d.). Creating video from text. https://openai.com/sora
[4] Shuttleworth, C. (2024, February 12). Misogynists are using DignifAI to cover up women in worrying new trend. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ 100. https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/dignifai-ai-covering-up-women
[5] DignifAi. (n.d.). https://www.dignifai.net/
[6] Bareket, O., & Shnabel, N. (2019). Domination and objectification: Men’s motivation for dominance over women affects their tendency to sexually objectify women. ๐๐ด๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, 44(1), pp. 28–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319871913
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