SAWM-SL led discussion on AI, journalism, and TFGBV

The Sri Lankan chapter of the South Asian Women in Media- Sri Lanka (SAWM-SL), on February 10, 2026, successfully concluded a landmark discussion on the impact of artificial intelligence on journalism and its weaponisation against women in public life.

Held at Mandarina Colombo, the discussion, which had Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Sri Lanka, Wiebe de Boer, as one of its special guests, brought together academics, editors, civil society representatives, government officials, researchers and media leaders for what participants described as a timely and solutions-oriented exchange on the fast-evolving role of AI in media.

Delivering the opening remarks, Ambassador Wiebe de Boer, underscored the global urgency of AI governance and its disproportionate impact on women and girls. Referencing the European Union’s Digital Services Act and Artificial Intelligence Act, he stressed the importance of regulatory frameworks that prioritise transparency, accountability and user rights. He also pointed to a recent Dutch court ruling requiring Facebook to prioritise user-selected content over algorithm-driven feeds. Ambassador de Boer warned that AI-enabled image manipulation and the proliferation of non-consensual intimate imagery represent some of the most serious emerging threats to global efforts to eliminate violence against women.

The discussion centred on new research by Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa titled ‘Both a Tool and a Weapon: AI’s Impact on Journalism and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV)’, that explored how generative AI is transforming journalistic practice, enhancing efficiency and innovation, while simultaneously being weaponised against women in public life, including women journalists.

Drawing on documented evidence - including the January 2026 crisis involving Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI and integrated into X, the presentation highlighted the surge in AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery targeting women. The incident underscored how quickly generative AI tools can be misused, intensifying online harassment and reinforcing structural barriers to women’s full participation in media and public discourse.

Research Fellow at LIRNEasia Ashwini Natesan, and SAWM-SL Trustee/Director of the Centre for Investigative Reporting Sri Lanka, senior journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti responded to the presentation, sparking a robust and wide-ranging dialogue.

Participants engaged actively throughout the session, raising concerns about editorial accountability, platform governance, and the psychological toll of technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Many reflected on the ethical dilemmas posed by AI-generated content, including verification challenges and the risk of amplifying harm through reporting.

The February 10 forum built on SAWM-SL’s earlier trilingual AI capacity-building initiative held in November 2025, delivered in English, Sinhala and Tamil. The programme, which engaged 96 journalists in person from all nine provinces in Sri Lanka including the North and East and a online follow up, helped enhance participants’ understanding of generative AI technologies, ethical newsroom adoption and practical responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

Building on this foundation of practical training and ethical reflection, the discussion transitioned from theory to practice, to conclude with three of the participants from the AI training programme demonstrating how these lessons are being applied within their own newsrooms.

Abhisheka Wasala Bandara, News and Feature Editor at theleader.lk, presented insights on editorial decision-making in an AI-augmented newsroom environment; Safrah Fazal, Feature Writer, Daily Mirror, shared her learnings on integrating AI tools into feature writing workflows while maintaining journalistic standards and Sameeha Zafeer, Chief Editor of NewsBar Website, discussed the implementation of AI tools in digital news platforms and the editorial considerations involved.

The presentations demonstrated the practical knowledge gained through SAWM-SL's training initiative and illustrated real-world applications of AI in diverse newsroom contexts, from traditional print media to digital-first platforms.

The discussion on AI, journalism and technology-facilitated gender-based violence and the trilingual AI capacity-building programme forms part of the broader initiative titled ‘Enhancing Understanding and Knowledge of AI among Female Journalists’, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sri Lanka.

Dr Hattotuwa’s research – ‘AI’s Impact on Journalism and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence’ and “Artificial Intelligence, Journalism and Gender-Based Violence: A Research Brief’ - are on this website.

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Pictures by J. Sujeewakumar