Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community.
Erika Murray
MScN candidate, Faculty of Health Sciences
Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes and Digital Violence: Understanding the Impact on Health
With the rise of mainstream artificial intelligence (AI) software that can create hyper-realistic images and videos called deepfakes, I was compelled to dive deep into the underbelly of an otherwise helpful technology. The vulnerability I noticed through my literature review was that in some samples, a staggering 99% of AI-generated deepfake images and videos were sexually explicit, and almost all depicted women whose likenesses had been used without consent. What is insidious about this also makes me passionate as a researcher. Through my present and future work, I hope to highlight how digital sexual violence, including the production of explicit deepfakes, can impact both the physical and mental health of women. Ultimately, I want to see my work as part of a growing body of literature that can inform policy and law, forming a harmony between technology, health, and women’s liberation.
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