The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI)—from chatbots to smart thermostats and video games—is making it harder to be a woman.
In Britain, algorithms now play a major role in determining the fates of immigrants, based on factors like ethnicity and health markers. It’s possible that Home Office officials are heedlessly approving these machine-made decisions—with life-altering consequences for the people involved.
AI has eroded women’s security for years, aiding and abetting its hateful human counterparts through deepfake videos, revenge porn, and digital harassment. Bots aim to shame and silence women, while 96 percent of deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic videos predominantly targeting women.
Even the world’s most well-known women face AI-fueled attacks from men on social media. One manipulated image of Taylor Swift famously spread to 47 million people before its removal. And Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) recently discussed the “trauma” of finding an AI-generated pornographic image of herself on X.
Time and again, AI is used to dehumanize and undermine powerful women—drawing attention to their appearance rather than their capability and success to harm their self-confidence and affect their performance.
I have seen for myself that even when women are better qualified than men, they are challenged more. I have a bachelor’s degree in law and two master’s degrees—in criminal law and in conflict transformation. Yet I was constantly told I was not qualified enough for my position of Libya’s foreign minister.
Sexism is not a new threat, but AI’s unchecked rise is catalyzing a modern form of gender-based oppression.
Despite AI’s undeniable potential, its underlying data is riddled with issues. Even the biases we are aware of go uncorrected. Car safety measures, for instance, designed using crash test dummies in the form of the male physique, make women 73 percent more likely to be injured and 17 percent more likely to die in crashes.
The root issue? AI systems reinforce and magnify existing biases, unhealthy social behaviors, and attitudes to women. These go unchallenged by the tech bros of Silicon Valley after short development times and high profits.
The result is that AI is rapidly becoming a tool for a very modern kind of oppression.
In Iran, AI-driven facial recognition tracks women violating dress codes, such as not wearing loose clothing or covering their hair. Last year, 16-year-old Armita Geravand died following an alleged assault by morality police. Her crime? Her hijab needed adjusting.
Incidents like this have led the Muslim World League‘s Secretary-General Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa to voice concerns about AI’s potential to influences billions with subverted ideologies. His organization—which is the world’s largest Islamic NGO—will highlight the risks of the digital transformation at a groundbreaking summit on girls’ education in January in Pakistan.
Their efforts join others such as the U.K.-based organization Women in Data, which will host the “world’s largest female data event” in March, aimed at addressing AI bias and promoting gender diversity. Similarly, global initiatives like AnitaB.org India, and Women in AI Africa are working to enhance women’s representation and leadership in AI, contributing to the creation of a more inclusive global tech ecosystem.
Every day further entrenches AI as a tool of anti-women rhetoric. But real change requires an overhaul of AI’s underlying data, coupled with legislative action for gender equity in AI development. We need a diverse council of female AI policymakers, specialists, and campaigners, and to root out and challenge systemic biases globally.
Meanwhile, women currently comprise only 22 percent of AI professionals worldwide, with even fewer in leadership roles. More must be done—not only encouraging young women into computing and technology but tackling the sexism they face once in position.
One potential solution is to crowdsource the fight against AI’s gender imbalance, by employing “bias bounty hunters” who are rewarded for exposing and rectifying harmful algorithms.
This is a pivotal moment. The incoming administration may see an amendment to ban government policies requiring AI’s equitable design, as Donald Trump launches a blitz on a range of “woke” safeguards. And with Elon Musk playing a key role in this new administration, who knows in which direction his bombastic, egotistical whims may take AI development?
For women, the fight for change is once again on. If we fail to act, AI’s unchecked misogyny will push us into a dark and dangerous future.
Najla Mohammed El Mangoush was Libya’s first female foreign minister, the fifth woman to hold the position of a foreign minister in the Middle East and North Africa. She was named in the BBC 100 Women 2021 list for her work on building links with civil society organizations. In 2022, she received the International Women of Courage from the U.S. State Department for “extraordinary courage, strength and leadership in improving the lives of others and their communities.” She is a 2015 graduate of the Centre for Justice and Peacebuilding.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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