‘The chilling effect’: how fear of ‘nudify’ apps and AI deepfakes is keeping Indian women off the internet

Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence has been accompanied by new ways to harass women online

Gaatha Sarvaiya would like to post on social media and share her work online. An Indian law graduate in her early 20s, she is in the earliest stages of her career and trying to build a public profile. The problem is, with AI-powered deepfakes on the rise, there is no longer any guarantee that the images she posts will not be distorted into something violating or grotesque.

The thought immediately pops in that, OK, maybe it's not safe. Maybe people can take our pictures and just do stuff with them,'" says Sarvaiya, who lives in Mumbai.