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[Originally published in the February Issue, 18th of February 2026]
Misogyny and its patriarchal frameworks and belief systems predate capitalism, and as the world evolves and systems change these prejudices run the risk of becoming entrenched within these new systems. In an increasingly technological age, we are seeing artificial intelligence systems taking over the world, dominating the content we see and the way society communicates and functions. As AI changes the very face of civilisation, the dangers and risks it poses towards women and young girls are becoming ever more apparent and terrifying. Misogyny and the violence it imposes upon women is taking on a new, illicit form through the widespread use of AI.
AI chatbots are increasingly being used to fuel gender-based violence as users weaponise AI and create sexually violent, deepfake images of women and young girls, violating their consent and aiding in the generation of revenge porn that can be used to threaten and harass its victims. Girls as young as 11 are having their faces and bodies violated through being digitally undressed by AI systems. AI chatbots such as Grok, a model developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, are being instructed to take images of women and put them in bikinis, digitally undress them, and some prompts are even requesting AI to generate sexually violent videos. Women have even reported AI images of themselves being generated and shared in which semen is smeared on their faces and chests. What we are witnessing is a new iteration of gender-based violence and misogyny that is producing widespread harm and trauma to women worldwide.
A significant issue that accompanies the rise of AI is that the technology is evolving faster than legal regulations. With such rapid progression of AI there are limited legal frameworks, research, and resources to manage the significant harms that are being fuelled. In fact, whilst we see that bodies such as the European Commission are beginning to formulate potential frameworks and safety protocols for AI usage, some governments are significantly pushing back against such regulations.
In the US, President Trump recently signed an executive order titled ‘Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government.’ The order prevents “social agendas” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion frameworks (DEI) from being enforced by agencies within AI models. This order that claims to ensure “neutrality” and AI “free from bias” makes it significantly more challenging for protections to be ensured and exacerbates gender-based violence in the digital world. After coming under intense scrutiny and government pressure, Elon Musk pledged to suspend users of Grok who use the tool to undress women and girls. Despite this pledge, mass amounts of deepfakes and sexually violent images are still being produced by the chatbot with no limits or consequences. We are entering a world where AI is being utilised as a weapon, fostering an online environment of violation and abuse which gives rise to danger and trauma for women and young girls. Whilst the tools advance and evolve at an extraordinary pace, regulations either can’t keep up, or are being actively rejected in order to further political agendas.
Author Laura Bates recently published her text ‘The New Age of Sexism,’ a work that exposes the dangerous misogyny that is becoming entrenched within the coding that is reshaping the future of our society. Bates herself has been subjected to the very harms she discusses, as after the release of her book ‘Men Who Hate Women’, AI was used to generate sexually violent images and videos of her without her knowledge or consent. Bates discusses in her book how emerging technologies are taking existing inequalities like racism and sexism and embeds them within the foundation of our new age. We already know that 96 percent of all deepfakes generated consist of non-consensual pornography. Of those deepfakes, 99 percent of them are of women. Discrepancies between the sexes can also be seen in the users of AI themselves, with 71 percent of men within the 16-24 year age bracket reporting weekly AI usage, versus only 59 percent of women. Generative AI often disguises itself behind the guise of technological advancement and progress, but it is in fact manifesting as a new violent weapon to fuel misogyny. This re-invention of violence is running rampant without control, and, as Bates attests, will cement itself within the foundations of our future.
Misogyny pervades our society and exists within the very fabric of its existence. As AI progresses, these prejudices are becoming re-embedded within the new frameworks that will shape our technological future. Women and young girls are being forcefully subjected to horrific violence, violation, and intimidation as this weapon falls into the hands of malicious men who intend to cause irreparable harm. Governments are failing to protect women from these harms, and are failing to stifle the patriarchal forces that already dominate our societies. It is incredibly important for us to recognise that speed does not necessarily equate progress, and to recognise the integral need for AI companies and governments to assume responsibility and implement the necessary safeguards to protect women and young girls from the hands of this new technological patriarchy.
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