Is AI the New Frontier of Women’s Oppression?
Summary
Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, argues in her new book, The New Age of Sexism, that AI and emerging technologies are amplifying and reinventing misogyny. Through interviews, survivor accounts and hands-on investigation, Bates details how tools such as deepfakes, AI sexbots, customised “girlfriends” and gendered virtual assistants extend long-standing abuses into new, scalable, and often anonymous forms.
She warns that easy access to generative AI lowers the barrier to image-based abuse, enabling children and strangers as well as intimate partners to create realistic pornographic deepfakes. Bates links techno-enabled misogyny to other harms: exploitative labour in data-labeling, environmental damage that disproportionately hits women, and the normalisation of abusive behaviour via feminised virtual assistants. Her central prescription is urgent regulation and accountability for tech companies.
Key Points
- Laura Bates’ book documents how AI tools (deepfakes, sexbots, chat companions) are being used to harass, sexualise and control women.
- Generative AI dramatically lowers the technical and financial barriers to creating realistic pornographic images of women and girls, widening the pool of potential abusers.
- AI girlfriends and sexbots present highly customisable, submissive female avatars that risk normalising misogynistic expectations and sexual violence.
- Feminised virtual assistants and abusive interactions with them shape societal attitudes about gendered labour and acceptable behaviour toward women.
- The environmental footprint and supply chains for AI technologies disproportionately harm women, particularly in vulnerable regions and labour sectors.
- Bates stresses there is no evidence these technologies help people form healthier relationships; marketing claims often whitewash the harms.
- Urgent regulation, stronger safety guardrails and industry accountability are presented as necessary to prevent further harm.
Content Summary
Bates traces her activist origins to the Everyday Sexism Project and explains how online harassment has evolved into sophisticated AI-enabled harms. She describes first-hand experiences and interviews with victims, technologists and creators to map how bias, profit motives and lack of oversight have produced tools that can be weaponised against women.
The book explains practical examples—children using tools to create pornographic images of classmates, men customising AI girlfriends to enact violent fantasies, and the routine abuse of virtual assistants—that illustrate how misogyny migrates into new platforms. Bates connects these cultural harms to structural issues: exploitative labour in AI data work, extraction-driven supply chains and the disproportionate environmental burden on women.
Her conclusion is prescriptive: regulation, industry responsibility and listening to those most affected (women and girls) are critical. Bates warns against leaving the development and deployment of powerful AI tools solely in the hands of profit-driven companies and calls for rapid policy action to avoid normalising a new era of sexist technology.
Context and Relevance
This piece sits at the intersection of AI ethics, gender studies and public policy. As generative tools become cheaper and more capable, the risks Bates outlines are not hypothetical: deepfakes, personalised sexualised avatars and biased assistants are already in widespread use. The article is relevant to anyone following AI governance, online safety for children, digital rights, and gender-based violence prevention.
Key trends it connects to: the democratisation of powerful generative tools, rising calls for AI regulation, growing concern about online image-based abuse, and the social consequences of gendered product design. For policymakers, technologists and advocates, Bates’ arguments provide concrete examples of harms and a checklist for where regulation and corporate responsibility should focus.
Why should I read this?
Because this isn’t abstract doom-mongering — it’s a front-row look at how everyday sexism has migrated into our code. If you care about online safety, kids, or what “progress” in tech actually costs, Bates’ book (and this interview summary) saves you the time of wading through hype. Read it to get the concrete harms, who’s responsible, and why waiting for market fixes isn’t an option.
Author’s take
Punchy: This matters now. Bates lines up vivid examples and a clear call for regulation — skip this at your peril if you work in tech policy, education or online safety.
Source
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/is-ai-the-new-frontier-of-female-oppression/
