the raise of ai use is a gender issue

digital misogyny with artificial intelligence.

A certain period of time on this Tinubu’s internet, there was a surge of what I’d tag as “digital misogyny,” whereby women would post their photos online and men, with their fingertips flying on the keyboard, would simply comment:

“@grok strip her naked.”

“@grok turn her around.”

“@grok bend her over.”

“@grok make a milky-like substance pour on her face.”

It was incredibly horrific, and in a matter of seconds, their picture was generated, and the targets of this degeneracy had to sit with the trauma and horror that simply comes with a woman posting her picture online.

But it didn’t start with Grok, or ChatGPT, or the creation of deepfakes and other artificial intelligence tools. Since the course of history, whenever there was any technological revolution meant to aid human development and experience, what we often see is not its main intention, but rather its use in the abuse and degradation of women and femininity.

In the 1800s, when cameras were invented—meant to freeze time and capture memories—women’s photos were being shared without consent, and “scandal” photos were used for blackmail. When radio and TV came in, we saw ads pushing misogynistic stereotypes and enforcing traditional gender roles. The internet and smartphones? Even worse: beauty standards, pornography, sharing of intimate photos, secret recordings, trolling, stalking, blackmail, and so on. With AI, we now have systems that can use women and children’s faces or voices to satisfy illicit fantasies, chatbots that generate misogynistic images and content, and AI-assisted apps creating harmful pictures in a matter of seconds. It’s safe to say that even as developed as the world is today, we have not changed in the slightest.

This essay attempts to answer the question: why is it that whenever there is a technological revolution, women are often a target, as opposed to the technology being used for what it is meant for?

Just imagine.

One of the most prevalent discussions about the current internet age is centered on our lack of control. Things don’t feel like ours anymore. Unlike the time when music was listened to on records or photos were framed and hung on the walls, everything has slipped from our fingers and now exists on a screen. Because of that, these things aren’t starting to feel real.

No less than a few weeks ago, Google came up with Nano Banana Pro, a change-maker in the creation of artificial intelligence pictures that look as if humans are staring at you, but they aren’t. They are just words that have been generated, and that is simply mind-boggling. The fact that we might have to scrutinize every detail or run some software before we can detect the authenticity of a photo shows how much we’ve lost the steering wheel toward technological advancement.

And while all these are major concerns, what I often find neglected in conversations about AI—whether about the climate, the creative space, or how it makes us feel out of touch with reality—is how it affects women. Funnily enough, this issue is even more prevalent across all forms of social media.

Given the examples I listed above, this is simply reflective of how dangerous our society is toward women and how they view their bodies. It is not that AI is inherently misogynistic, but rather that it runs by analyzing preexisting data, which is often based on societal biases. According to UN Women and allied research, up to 95% of online deepfakes are non‑consensual pornographic images, and approximately 99% of those targeted are women. Another recent global survey found that 38% of women have experienced online violence, and 85% have witnessed digital violence against others. An academic study on deepfake model accessibility found that “publicly downloadable deepfake model variants” (which can be used to generate non-consensual images) number in the tens of thousands, and that among these, approximately  96% target women when used to create intimate or sexualized imagery.

And even with all this, what we get aren’t regulations, but the same old sentiments:

“If you didn’t want your photo to be generated, why did you share it?”

“Stop posting yourself.”

“Keep your face off the internet.”

Like the running motif in regards to women’s issues, we do not attack the men who have enforced the use of technology to degrade women. Instead, we put women under pressure, as if that stops the abuse or the harm women face daily. Women’s bodies then become public property and are subjected to inescapable harm.

But why do men do it?

There are not many reasons why men do a lot of dangerous things toward women apart from being blatantly sexist and misogynistic. However, I also want to look at it from a perspective of control. With the rise of feminism and the digital age, the world has remembered that women exist and that we are more than what the patriarchy defines as femininity. Every day, women came on the internet, talking about many things—posting their degrees, their desires, their relationships, their achievements. No more is the “women belong in the kitchen” nonsense or the constant adherence to patriarchal values. Now comes the surge in empowerment, in neglect for men and their desires, in the pursuit of achievements rather than relationships.

The grip that men and society once had on women has grown loose.

But now, with technological advancement, women’s bodies can be controlled again. With a single prompt, their voices, their faces, their bodies become byproducts of a man’s contraventions. They can be shamed into a corner and reminded of their place in society.

Also, the internet removes consequences and enforces anonymity, with little to no repercussions for their actions. That makes everything seem worthwhile. It lands on the singular idea that no matter what they do behind the screen, no one will ever know, no one will ever see, and they can keep on generating prompts to give them the illusion that they still hold power.

The final question: who is tech really for?

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Even though artificial intelligence gives quick answers to complex problems and tackles things the human brain sometimes cannot handle, the harm still outweighs the good—not because AI is inherently bad, but because the people who run these systems, and the society that shaped them, are increasingly rotten. And AI adapts, then becomes the driving tool that shapes social prejudice.

In the end, this cycle will keep on repeating itself because technology will continue to evolve towards the futuristic fantasy we think only exist in movies. While creating tools that can change the world, we still have stagnant systems that would keep us rooted in the past. Until we begin to confront these system, and rewrite the codes etched in our cultures and relations, might we discover some sort of ethical approach towards the use of technological revolutions—which should not be done through harm and prejudice.