“We put clothes on depraved women for fun, join us. » Since January, Internet users have taken great pleasure in modifying, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), photos of women they consider inappropriate, with the words “DignifAI” (“return your honor”, in English). Is she wearing a plunging neckline? We add a sweater to it. She poses in mini shorts? We cover it with a long dress. The changes do not only concern clothes: tattoos are removed, exuberant hairstyles replaced by long silky hair, the glass of beer swapped for a bouquet of flowers. Sometimes, we even add a child or a man to their side. DignifAI also drifts towards racism, when a photo of a white woman posing with her mixed-race child is altered to make him white.
On the social network X, the DignifAI account, created at the end of January, has more than 62,000 subscribers. He publishes before and after photos, and Internet users ask him: “Brother, can you thin this one out and turn the N into white?” » (“N” for “negro”). The photo appears to be a screenshot of the dating app Tinder. Women unknown to the general public, as well as international stars and countless influencers are targeted – it also sometimes happens that they are men.
The idea was born on 4chan, an anonymous forum among the most popular – and least moderated – on the Web. “We’re going to show them the life they’ll never have.” We will force them to contemplate the image of true beauty, which we have restored from their depraved faces. We will bring decency back to this world”, we can read in an anonymous message. DignifAI then spread to other spaces, such as X, and a specially created website provides instructions for AI tampering with the images of your choice.
The initiative could, like so many others, have remained confined to the depths of the Web. But by sharing it several times with his more than 2.4 million subscribers on X, the American far-right activist Jack Posobiec gave him visibility. Just like the Malaysian masculinist Ian Miles Cheong, a figure of the American alt-right, followed by more than 930,000 people. “The AI imagines what would have happened if these women had been raised by strong fathers”, he writes on the social network.
“The goal was to troll”
The image that accompanies her post shows Isla David, a sex worker based in Canada, dressed and flanked by three children. In an interview to the magazine Rolling Stoneshe confides that she is used to seeing Internet users manipulate photos of her, generally to undress her, and believes that the two approaches have the same intention: “Ultimately what they are trying to do is take away our consent and the right to control our bodies on the Internet. »
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