Amina MWRC is an intersectional organisation in Scotland that empowers and supports Muslim and Minority Ethnic (ME) women by serving as a vital link between them and the barriers they face every day. We deliver services across Scotland, both online and in person. Our support includes a national helpline offering free, confidential, culturally sensitive assistance on issues such as domestic abuse, mental health, employability, and visa concerns. We also provide telephone befriending, domestic abuse and financial advocacy, employability assistance, adult learning classes, VAWG prevention campaigns, and weekly creative well-being sessions for women in Glasgow and Dundee.

So, what makes a feminist AI? Our group said:

• It would take into consideration opinions from people of different communities
• We would use a mixed workforce to programme it
• It would have ethical funding sources
• It would create eco-friendly alternatives
• It would remove service user bias (eg agreeing with the user all the time)
• It would use trigger warnings and be trauma-informed
• Its purpose would be to support those whose human rights have been neglected.

CHAYN creates tech that heals, not harms. They’ve build their Survivor AI to be trauma-informed and support those impacted by intimate image abuse to remove harmful content.

Eva Blum-Dumontet is Head of Movement Building and Policy at Chayn, an organisation providing online resources to survivors of gender-based violence.  

Participants mapped out our cycle of harm, and predicted where key interventions might make a difference for young women

We then asked, What Safety guidelines would you introduce/would like to see introduced to eradicate VAWG in the AI space?

The Young Women’s Movement is Scotland’s national organisation for young women and girls’ leadership and rights. We support young women and girls across Scotland to lead change on issues that matter to them by providing them with resources, networks and platforms to collectively challenge inequality. 

Our facilitators asked the question, who is responsible when AI systemically sexualises women and girls at scale?

There are layers. The group felt strongly that individual accountability is still important. One person said, “When someone stabs another person, we don’t blame the knife, we blame the person.” There should be consequences for those who create sexual digital forgeries, and those who share them further.

However, systemic interventions are a longer-term solution. 

There have to be consequences for AI platforms which generate forgeries, and for social media platforms where harm is spread. Government, education systems and parents all have a role to play in reducing harm long term.

How did we get here?

• 2017: ‘Deepfakes’ develops new tech to create non-consensual porn. It was celebrities who were targeted first, as early models needed a lot of imagery to create sexual digital forgeries.
• 2018: Campaigners are doing their best to change the law in line with upskirting changes to the law. 
• 2021: Campaigners continue their work to raise awareness of the harm of sexual digital forgeries, but the UK government takes the stance that “these images aren’t real.”
• 2023: Nudify apps are being used against children in schools in Spain.
• 2026: We’re finally discussing banning nudify apps, but it’s almost impossible to ban them completely. It’s dual use technology, and difficult to enforce. 

What does the future hold?

• AI ‘Smart glasses’ where women are filmed without their consent 
• AI Chatbots are designed for engagement to maximise profit. They’re not trauma-informed, and they encourage isolating and suicidal behaviours for vulnerable people. They also enable stalking behaviours by providing detailed instructions to facilitate harm against women and girls.

The examples above aren’t a far off, “black-mirror” future. They’re all emerging technologies that are already causing harm which will only continue to grow in scale.