Participation in Paris AI Action Summit

In February 2025 I had the opportunity to attend the inter-governmental AI Action Summit held in Paris alongside prominent figures including President Macron and the US Vice-President. During the event, I delivered a presentation at the French Government’s Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online side event which was introduced by French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.

My take-away? Inspiring Moments Amid Urgent Challenges

The Summit gathered global policymakers, tech experts, and advocates to explore the future of AI governance. It was truly inspiring to witness the energy and determination of young women working to ensure that women and girls are not left behind in the digital era. 

However, despite some positives, I fear we are repeating the same mistakes made with the internet and social media—moving too fast, with too little regulation. The idealism that "everything will be fine" and that regulation stifles innovation was pervasive. Yes, there was talk of bias, discrimination, and risks—but mostly lip service.

Event: Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online 

I participated in the inaugural event of the French Government’s Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online. The Laboratory brings together stakeholders including governments, international organisations, civil society and academics to incubate ideas for innovative, technical solutions to tech-facilitated online violence against women and girls. The event involved powerful speakers from across the world: 

• Jean-Noël Barrot Minister of Foreign Affairs

• Brigadier Jean-Philippe Reiland, Head of the Central Office for Combating International Crimes and Hate Crimes of the French Ministry of the Interior

• Ulises Canchola Guttierez, Ambassador, Special Representative for Emerging Technologies, Mexico

• Zahra' Langhi, Senior Advisor to UN Special Envoy for Yemen 

My presentation: Deepfake Sexual Abuse - What Can We Do?

In my presentation, I tackled the urgent threat of deepfake sexual abuse by proposing concrete solutions: strengthening criminal law to criminalise both the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes, demanding greater accountability from tech platforms particularly Instagram and Google, as well as anticipating future challenges with 3D non-consensual sexual avatars and abuse in the metaverse – what my colleagues and I are calling meta-rape. 

Regulation vital for women’s rights to thrive 

My main theme is that regulation is vital to enable women’s rights and freedoms to thrive. Without regulation, we face discrimination, abuse, being silenced and pushed offline.

Further information

You can watch some excerpts from my presentation on Instagram and more on my presentation on LinkedIn. 

My short blog on why we need to criminalise creating and sharing sexually explicit deepfakes can be read here. 

My research with Ruya Tuna Toparlak on justifying criminalising creation will be published soon and a version is available here.