Artificial intelligence deepfakes are easier to make than ever — and our sense of reality and democracy are at risk

In 2023, more deepfake abuse videos were shared than in every other year in history combined, according to an analysis by independent researcher Genevieve Oh. What used to take skillful, tech-savvy experts hours to Photoshop can now be whipped up at a moment’s notice with the help of an app. Some deepfake websites even offer tutorials on how to create AI pornography.

What happens if we don’t get this under control? It will further blur the lines between what’s real and what’s not — as politics become more and more polarized. What will happen when voters can’t separate truth from lies? And what are the stakes? As we get closer to the presidential election, democracy itself could be at risk. And, as Ocasio-Cortez points out in our conversation, it’s about much more than imaginary images.

“It’s so important to me that people understand that this is not just a form of interpersonal violence, it’s not just about the harm that’s done to the victim,” she says about nonconsensual deepfake porn. She puts down her spoon and leans forward. “Because this technology threatens to do it at scale — this is about class subjugation. It’s a subjugation of entire people. And then when you do intersect that with abortion, when you do intersect that with debates over bodily autonomy, when you are able to actively subjugate all women in society on a scale of millions, at once digitally, it’s a direct connection [with] taking their rights away.”

  • sugar_in_your_teaEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    No, the healthcare issues are complex and involve a lot of corruption and inertia, not beliefs around body ownership. In fact, I’d argue it’s quite the opposite, Americans in general aren’t in favor of bodily ownership, so things like doctor assisted suicide are generally restricted or outright banned. There is a lot of pearl clutching though.

    My personal perspective is that as long as there’s proper consent, individuals can do what they want with their bodies. But my barrier for “proper consent” is pretty high. Something like prostitution is pretty straightforward with minimal surprises, but selling organs requires pretty in depth knowledge about long term consequences of the surgery and loss of the organ. However, both have a high risk of coercion, so there needs to be rules in place.

    But the pearl clutchers just say no to anything that sounds distasteful.