AI-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: Scope and Criminal Law Responses

• In Event: Forging criminalisation of gender-based violence

Abstract

With the current trend towards generalised immersion in the digital world, gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly taking place online. The rapid advancement of emergent technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), has given rise to new forms of online GBV, presenting novel challenges for law enforcement authorities and policymakers. While the full potential of AI as a tool to facilitate GBV remains to be fully understood due to the constant evolution of these technologies, women are already experiencing specific forms of AI-facilitated GBV. These include the use of bots to amplify automated online harassment and, more frequently, deepfake image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). The novelty of these behaviours means that empirical data on their dimensions and characteristics remain scarce. This lack of information hinders the development of effective criminal policies to prevent and sanction such forms of GBV. In light of this, the present study aims to contribute to narrowing this research gap by providing an initial consideration of the scope of deepfake IBSA in Spain. This will be achieved through an analysis of case law and official data published by institutions such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Interior. The findings will be contextualized within recent proposals to criminalize deepfake IBSA, thereby contributing to the broader debate on the criminalisation of AI-facilitated GBV.

Author

• Silvia Rodríguez-López, Universidade da Coruña