Fabricated sexual images pose serious threats to female politicians around the world

 Female politicians increasingly falling prey to AI-generated pornography, researchers say

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Washington (UrduPoint News International/ Pakistan Point News - NNI. 07 January 2025) According to researchers, from the United States to Italy, Britain and Pakistan, female politicians are increasingly being targeted by sexual or pornographic images generated by artificial intelligence. This is a disturbing trend that has threatened women’s participation in public life. According to media reports, experts believe that this significant increase in fake content through content published without the consent of the targeted people thwarts efforts to regulate artificial intelligence globally.

In this situation, low-cost artificial intelligence tools, especially photo editing applications on phones, allow users to create fake images of women.

According to researchers, these images are used as real weapons aimed at damaging the reputation of women in public circles. These images also have the purpose of damaging the careers of these women, undermining public trust and blackmailing and harassing them.

Deepfake images and videos can also pose a threat to national security. The American Sunlight Project (ASP), a research group in the US that specializes in detecting misinformation, has identified more than 35,000 cases of deepfake operations targeting 26 members of the US Congress, 25 of whom are women, on pornographic websites.

The figures reflect a dark and disturbing reality for the researchers. The study, conducted last month, found that one in six women elected to Congress had been victims of such images generated by artificial intelligence. Nina Yankovic, president of the ASP group, warned that female members of Congress are being targeted by AI-based deepfake technology to a dangerous extent, similar to pornography.

She stressed that this is not just about technology, but also an attack on women in power and on democracy itself. The ASP did not publish the names of the congresswomen targeted in the images in question to avoid further interest and searches for such content. In the UK, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Merkel is one of at least 30 British politicians who have been targeted by a site that publishes deepfake porn.

Artificial intelligence was used to expose ten political figures. Real photos were transformed into fake ones and they were shown naked. The women are targeted using AI-powered applications and tools that are free for the general public to use and do not require any technical skills. These tools allow people to remove clothes from photos or create fake videos using sexual text questions.

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is demanding 100,000 euros in compensation from two men who are accused of showing her in fake pornographic videos. They fabricated the videos and published them on American pornographic sites. Maloney told the court in October 2024 that this is a form of violence against women. She added that if we allow the advent of artificial intelligence to superimpose one woman’s face on another woman’s body, our daughters will also find themselves in these situations.

That is why I believe it is justified to fight this war. Journalists from Agence France-Presse in Pakistan analyzed a fake video clip showing local elected official Meena Majeed kissing a man in public. This is a violation of social norms in that country. For her part, the Information Minister of the Pakistani state of Punjab, Uzma Bukhari, said she felt very bad after discovering a fake video clip.

The video superimposed her face on the naked body of an Indian actress. Pakistan’s current cybercrime prevention legislation includes provisions against online harassment that aim to ban the sharing of images or videos without the consent of the targeted individuals.