When Technology Meets the Most Sensitive Cases: AI, Safety and Gender-Based Violence

About the session AI is already entering community health and gender-based violence services. Organisations are experimenting with it for multilingual access, resource navigation, health literacy, staff training, intake, community education and administrative work. Justice technologies are also creating new possibilities for transparency and accountability in GBV cases. But these are environments where getting technology wrong can have unusually serious consequences. Survivors and people seeking community or behavioural health services may be sharing some of the most sensitive information of their lives. AI introduces difficult questions about privacy, surveillance, consent, misinformation, data ownership and escalation. At the same time, technology itself is increasingly being used to facilitate gender-based violence, creating new forms of abuse that services and justice systems must be equipped to address. The challenge is not to decide whether AI is simply good or bad. It is to understand where it genuinely helps, where it introduces unacceptable risk, and where human judgement must remain central. This session will bring that conversation down to the level of real practice. What are community organisations already trying? What safeguards should exist before AI interacts directly with survivors or community members? How can smaller organisations evaluate tools without dedicated AI, privacy or legal teams? And what would genuinely gender-responsive technology look like? Discussion Group Leaders ElsaMarie DSilva is Founder at Red Dot Foundation, advancing safer and more inclusive communities by using data, AI, policy, and youth leadership to prevent gender-based violence. Jaspreet Singh is Co-Founder at ICAAD, advancing human rights and systemic equity through law, technology, and art. Jessica Minhas is Founder & CEO at I'll Go First & Story, improving health and legal literacy through media, technology, and education that connect research, policy, and lived experience. What to expect A grounded, practitioner-led conversation about technologies already being tested, adopted or rejected in GBV and community health settings. Participants will examine both sides of the equation: using technology to improve access and accountability, and responding to the new forms of harm technology can enable. The emphasis will be on sharing what organisations are learning now, before these tools become even more embedded in service delivery. Who this is for This session is for GBV and community health practitioners, survivor advocates, technologists, funders, justice organisations, policymakers and organisations considering how, or whether, to use AI in sensitive community settings. What you will get out of it Real-world examples of how AI is being used in GBV and community health services A clearer understanding of where AI can help and where human judgement should remain central Practical questions for assessing privacy, consent, safety and data risks Perspectives on technology-facilitated gender-based violence and gender-responsive AI Approaches that smaller community organisations can use when evaluating new technologies