Laura Bates argues that proactive, well-designed regulation — not reactive patchwork laws — is urgently needed before the damage inflicted by AI on girls and women becomes irreversible.

AI tools are rapidly becoming instruments of gender-based harm, and regulation is failing to keep pace. From xAI's Grok generating millions of non-consensual intimate images to "nudify" apps downloaded hundreds of millions of times, technology is enabling abuse of women and girls at unprecedented scale. Meta's smart glasses have been used for covert filming, and AI video tools have been exploited to create graphic violent content targeting women.

Beyond deliberate abuse, AI systems trained on biased data are compounding existing inequalities — advising women to request lower salaries, downplaying their medical conditions, and discriminating against them in credit and recruitment. With women making up just 12% of AI researchers and receiving 2% of venture capital, they have little say in how these tools are built.

Read the full article here: https://www.ft.com/content/60e2a900-8999-46cc-8107-4f468f442aae

To coincide with the release of her new book, Laura Bates features in The Times for her latest investigation into how technology is reshaping misogyny. Going undercover in virtual reality and AI platforms, she uncovers disturbing new frontiers of abuse and reveals how emerging technologies are not only amplifying gender-based violence but also monetising it. The New Age of Sexism is out now.

Writer and activist Laura Bates speaks to Channel 4 News about her investigation into the digital underworld for her latest book, The New Age of Sexism. She reveals how emerging technologies are amplifying age-old misogyny and warns of the risks of normalising virtual violence against women. Watch Now.