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Conversations Unscripted
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While the digital age and AI present significant opportunities for advancing women’s rights and participation in democracy, they also pose challenges that need to be addressed to ensure gender equality and inclusivity and women’s safety. As our societies continue to move online, it is critical that we continue to address potential misuses of digital products and services, not least as we see a rise in the spread of AI-manipulated content and deepfake abuse, disproportionately impacting women.
Deepfakes are fraudulent pieces of content (images, audio, video) that have been manipulated or created using artificial intelligence (AI). Often, this synthetic content replaces a real person’s voice, image, or both with similar looking and sounding artificial likenesses. Deepfakes are used to spread disinformation, in scams, election manipulation, social engineering attacks and other forms of fraud.
According to a study by Deeptracelabs, 96% of deepfake videos online concern material depicting nudity or sexually explicit activities, most of them targeting women.
Are you a young professional based in Brussels who is interested in learning more about the impact of deepfakes on women? Join us for the interactive roundtable “Empowering Women in the age of AI: Addressing the impact of deepfake abuse on women”, where you can exchange with experts such as Prof. Dr. Clare McGlynn from the University of Durham, members of the European’s Women Lobby and take part in a hands-on workshop on deepfakes by Victoria Sarmiento Herrero. Following the interactive debate, keep the conversations going at the reception and meet other young professionals and our experts.
With this roundtable discussion we aim
- To raise awareness and understanding of the impact of deepfake abuse on women and society
- To showcase the initiatives and actions taken by tech companies and legislators to address the issue of deepfakes
- To provide an overview of the tools and resources available to combat the use of deepfakes targeting women
- To foster dialogue and exchange of views among young professionals, EWL members, and experts on deepfake abuse and gender equality
Due to the space availability, registrations will be accepted on a rolling basis. If you wish to attend this event, please send us an email. We will confirm your participation in due course.
Agenda
Tuesday June 18th, 2024
18:00-18:05
Opening remarks
Maria Joao Faustino, Researcher CES-UC and member of EWL Executive Committee
18:05-18:35
How deepfake affect women
Professor Clare McGlynn, Durham University
18:35-19:05
What tech companies are doing to tackle deepfakes
Victoria Sarmiento Herrero, Microsoft
19:05-19:25
Q&A session
Maria Joao Faustino, Researcher CES-UC and member of EWL Executive Committee
19:25-20:00
Open discussion and drinks
Featured speakers
Meet some of the speakers sharing insights at our June event.
Professor Clare McGlynn
Durham University
Biography
Maria João Faustino
Researcher, CES, University of Coimbra
Biography
Victoria Sarmiento Herrero
Government Affairs Specialist, European Government Affairs, Microsoft
Biography
Professor Clare McGlynn
Durham University
Professor Clare McGlynn is Professor of Law at Durham University, in the UK, with particular expertise in the legal regulation of p*rnography, sexual violence and online abuse, particularly cyberflashing and image-based sexual abuse (taking, creating and sharing intimate images without consent). She is a leading scholar in the field of image-based sexual abuse, a concept that she developed, along with Erika Rackley. She has authored several scientific articles and is the co-author of the books Cyberflashing: recognising harms, reforming laws (2021) and Image-Based Sexual Abuse: a study on the causes and consequences of non-consensual nude or sexual imagery (2021). She worked closely with politicians, victims and civil society to improve laws nationally and across the world to better tackle online abuse.
Maria João Faustino
Researcher, CES, University of Coimbra
Maria João Faustino is a researcher at CES, University of Coimbra. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her doctoral research focused on sexual violence and its gendered patterns. She has published about representations of sexual violence in the media, women's experiences of consent and coercion, and new interlinks between sexuality and technology. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Women's Lobby.
Victoria Sarmiento Herrero
Government Affairs Specialist, European Government Affairs, Microsoft
Victoria joined Microsoft’s European Government Affairs team in September 2020. As a Government Affairs Specialist, Victoria works on strategic relations, campaigns and partnerships. Prior to her current role, she covered areas related to connectivity and critical infrastructure and she provided horizontal support functions to the Vice-President for European Government Affairs. Most recently, she started working on Conversations Unscripted: A European Gender Equality Initiative for Technology and Politics, launched in October 2022. Prior to joining Microsoft, Victoria gained professional experience in a Brussels-based strategic communications consultancy (LOW Europe); the European Parliament; the College of Europe Development Office; the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin. Victoria holds a Master’s degree in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from College of Europe and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University Rey Juan Carlos.
Leading partners
This event is co-hosted by the European Women’s Lobby and Microsoft (Conversations Unscripted; Microsoft Young Leader Initiative).
See you in Brussels
This event takes place at the
Microsoft Center, Rue Montoyer 51, 1000 Brussels
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