Meta recently unveiled Muse Image, an artificial intelligence image generator that allows anyone to manipulate pictures of any Instagram user with a public profile. Just as its Meta glasses — the facial recognition-equipped accessory that lets wearers record anyone without their consent — it is an extremely problematic feature because image-based abuse is one of the fastest-growing forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Everyday non-explicit images can easily be weaponized — as we’ve already seen with Grok — and the harm is spreading faster than any legislation or product safeguard. That gap leaves room not just for one-to-one exploitation but also organized markets that profit from it.
There is another gap: Big Tech policies around what constitutes image-based abuse are largely based on Western ideas of what makes an image “intimate,” usually explicit sexual content and nudity. The assumption that the only images that can be harmful are those that have explicit content, is far from the truth, leaving millions of women and others without protection.
AI can help solve some aspects of content moderation challenges, but it cannot solve all of them.”
Our recent research in Pakistan and among the Pakistani diaspora found that for millions of women, image-based abuse has little to do with the sharing of explicit or nude images. Instead, a photo of a woman who normally covers her hair caught without a headscarf, a video of her dancing at a wedding, or a picture of her standing beside a male classmate can have serious repercussions. For many women in South Asia and the Middle East or its diaspora, these everyday pictures can be weaponized and used to insinuate poor character or illicit affairs.
