The new frontline for women and truth in the age of AI

A UN side event titled *Women Holding the Line: Storytelling & Safety in an Age of AI*, held during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in partnership with BBC Media Action and Peace Pays, examined how AI is reshaping risks for women in public life. Around 60 global leaders, including journalists, activists, and technologists, discussed how emerging technologies enable surveillance, privacy invasions, and targeted harassment at unprecedented scale. AI tools now lower the cost of disinformation by generating manipulated images, audio, and deepfake videos, as identified by the World Economic Forum as a growing global risk. Women journalists, activists, and political figures face escalating threats—coordinated attacks, fabricated content, and doxxing—that often outpace responses from existing systems. The technology amplifies existing harms, reinforcing control while making verification increasingly difficult. Panellists shared firsthand accounts of AI-fueled abuse. Kosovar Albanian investigative journalist Arbana Xharra described a fabricated video falsely linking her family to political narratives, which spread widely before she could counter it. Kat Fotovat, former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, recounted being doxxed with personal and family details exposed during her tenure, leading to thousands of targeted attacks. The discussion underscored AI’s dual role: while it offers benefits like data analysis for investigative reporting, its misuse threatens trust in digital content. One speaker noted, ‘Not so long ago, you couldn’t believe what you read. Now you can’t believe what you see,’ reflecting the erosion of verification standards. Experts emphasized the need for systemic solutions to address AI-driven risks while protecting women’s safety and resilience in public spheres. Fatou Baldeh, an FGM activist from Gambia, and Varinder Kaur Gambhir, Country Director at BBC Media Action in India, joined the panel to highlight how AI exacerbates surveillance and privacy risks for women and their networks. The event concluded with calls for collaborative efforts among policymakers, technologists, and funders to mitigate these evolving threats.