"We put clothes on depraved women for fun, join us." Since January, internet users have been taking a malicious pleasure in using artificial intelligence (AI) to modify photos of women they deem unseemly, calling it "DignifAI." Wearing a plunging neckline? Add a sweater. Posing in mini shorts? Cover it with a long dress. And it's not just clothes that are modified: Tattoos are removed, exuberant hairstyles replaced by long, silky hair, a glass of beer swapped for a bouquet of flowers. Sometimes, even a child or a man is added to their side. DignifAI also drifts toward racism, when a photo of a White woman posing with her mixed-race child is altered to make the child White.
On the social media platform X, the DignifAI account, created at the end of January, has over 62,000 followers. It posts before and after photos, and users make requests: "Brother, can you slim this one down and turn the N into white?" The photo appears to be a screenshot from the dating app Tinder. Women unknown to the general public, as well as international stars and countless influencers, are targeted – sometimes men too.
The idea was born on 4chan, an anonymous forum renowned for its popularity and minimal moderation. "We're going to show them the life they'll never have. We'll force them to contemplate the image of true beauty, which we've restored from their depraved faces. We will bring decency back to this world," reads an anonymous message. DignifAI then spread to other spaces, such as X, and a specially-created website provides instructions on using AI to manipulate the images of one's choice.
The initiative could have remained confined to the depths of the web, like so many others. But by sharing it several times with his more than 2.4 million subscribers on X, American far-right activist Jack Posobiec gave it visibility, as did Malaysian masculinist Ian Miles Cheong, a figure of the American alt-right, followed by over 930,000 people. "AI imagines what could've been if [these women had] been raised by strong fathers," he wrote on the social media.
The image accompanying his post shows Isla David, a Canadian-based sex worker, dressed up and flanked by three children. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, she confided that she's used to seeing internet users manipulate photos of her, usually to undress her, and believes that both approaches stem from the same intention: "at the end of the day, what they are trying to do is revoke your ability to consent and revoke your bodily autonomy on the internet."
You have 32.44% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.