Just when it seems we’ve made the tiniest bit of progress in efforts to eliminate violence against women, along comes a new technology that objectifies and demeans women in a whole new way.
Motherboard, a multi-platform, multimedia publication, recently reported on a new app that “takes an image of a clothed woman, and with one click and a few seconds, turns that image into a nude by algorithmically superimposing realistic-looking breasts and vulva onto her body”.
The anonymous programmer who goes by the alias “Alberto” said, “DeepNude” only works on images of women, because it's easy to find thousands of images of nude women online in porn.”
Fortunately, the creator of “Deepnude” has taken the app down, citing server overload and potential harms.
In an email conversation with Samantha Cole of Motherboard, Alberto said that he had grappled with questions of morality and ethical use of this app. "Is this right? Can it hurt someone?" he said he asked himself. "I think that what you can do with DeepNude, you can do it very well with Photoshop (after a few hours of tutorial)," he said. If the technology is out there, he reasoned, someone would eventually create this.
For now, a potentially harmful and dangerous app has been removed, but it’s only a matter of time before the technology is adapted to another app with dollar value and not human value in mind.
If you’ve ever wondered how you can help end violence against women and girls…a great place to start is not subscribing to harmful apps. Think about the cost to individuals before you hit the “Buy Now” button.
What are your thoughts about apps that exploit women and girls? Would you subscribe? Yes or No?
Share in comments below.
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