Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Abstract

With the rapidly increasing integration of generative artificial intelligence in communication technologies, this essay explores its consequences on gendered violence online. This paper first defines technology-facilitated gender-based violence, what it can look like, and who it most affects. Statistics show that rates of cyberviolence in Canada disproportionately harm marginalized groups as it is rooted in socio-historic power imbalances. Resultedly, the consequences of technology-facilitated violence are more severe for racialized and gendered minorities. This paper then discusses the role of generative AI in promoting cyberviolence, making it more accessible and potentially more dangerous. It details the many types of violence involved, and explains how regulatory/protective measures are often band-aid solutions which are not adequately addressing its structural roots. Lastly, this essay ends with hope by exemplifying various acts of resistance to violence in the digital world.