Geographies of Hope: Rethinking Deepfake Harms and Gender AI Safety in the Global South

Abstract

This article builds on the “geographies of hope” (Hazlewood et al., 2023) to better understand and address the gendered challenges posed by AI technologies in the Global South. AI-powered surveillance and technology-facilitated gender-based violence have reshaped digital geographies, leading to the rise of non-consensual synthetic intimate images—often called “deepfakes” or “deepfake pornography”—that disproportionately target women, LGBTQI+ communities, and racialized groups. These harms reveal the urgent need for inclusive AI safety and AI regulation frameworks that reflect the diversity of material and cultural geographies across the Global South. Through a cross-regional analysis of emerging AI safety policies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this article critiques the limitations of top-down, risk-based governance models and introduces a cross-cultural Gen(der) AI Safety framework rooted in decolonial and feminist praxis. Using critical discourse analysis, it identifies three systemic challenges—exclusionary legal-technical architectures, overreliance on individual responsibility, and entrenched power asymmetries. In response, the article proposes “geographies of hope” that emphasize localized, community-driven, and pleasure-positive interventions to counter digital harms. By centering intersectional and decolonial approaches, it calls for an AI safety agenda that affirms gender agency, collective joy, and justice.