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The rapid rise of deepfake technology is creating new and serious risks for women’s safety, wellbeing and participation in public and professional life. Recent reporting on women targeted by deepfake sexual imagery highlights the sophistication and scale of this harm — and the urgent need for employers and leaders to understand their responsibilities.
What is a deepfake?
A deepfake is an audio, image or video that has been digitally altered or generated using artificial intelligence to make it appear that a real person said or did something they did not.
In this context, sexualised deepfakes involve placing a person’s face onto explicit material without their consent. These images and videos can be extremely convincing and are increasingly easy to produce using publicly available tools.
Deepfake abuse is not a misunderstanding or a trivial online behaviour. It is a non-consensual sexual integrity violation that can cause significant psychological distress, reputational harm, fear and anxiety.
Global examples show the scale of the problem
We are already seeing high-profile cases internationally. Irish MP Cara Hunter had a pornographic deepfake circulated during an election campaign. MEP Maria Walsh has spoken publicly about needing to question whether an explicit image of herself was real or AI-generated.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that advocate against sexual violence Coralie Alison and colleagues at Collective Shout have been targeted with AI-generated images depicting rape, torture and murder — using details scraped from their real photos, even replicating freckles and bedrooms.
Legal context in Australia and NSW
Australia already has several legal frameworks that capture aspects of deepfake sexual abuse, even as legislation continues to evolve.
1. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW/Commonwealth)
Deepfake abuse can constitute a foreseeable psychosocial hazard under WHS law. PCBUs must eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety so far as reasonably practicable, including risks affecting psychological health.
NSW’s 2022 Psychosocial Regulations and the Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work recognise harassment, online abuse and exposure to harmful material as hazards employers must manage.
Deepfake abuse falls squarely within this category.
2. Respect@Work and the Positive Duty (Sex Discrimination Act 1984)
The Positive Duty requires employers to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent:
- sexual harassment,
- sex-based harassment,
- conduct that creates a hostile work environment, and
- related unlawful behaviour,
—including behaviour that occurs online, outside working hours or offsite, if it affects workers or their work environment.*
Sexualised deepfakes clearly fall within this scope.
3. NSW Criminal Law: Image-Based Abuse
In September 2025, the NSW Government passed legislation explicitly criminalising the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes that depict a real, identifiable person. Production of a deepfake explicit image or video is an offence, with a maximum penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment. Sharing or threatening to share such material — even if the sharer did not create it — is also criminalised, with the same potential penalty. The law also extends to sexually explicit audio generated or manipulated via AI when used without consent.
These reforms fill a critical gap: while NSW historically criminalised distribution of intimate images without consent (including digitally altered images), the new law explicitly includes images or media created entirely using AI.
The reforms build on existing image-based abuse laws, expanding their scope to cover AI-generated content.
This law signals a clear governmental position: non-consensual sexualised deepfakes are a serious offence, not a technical loophole.
4. Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) Context
Deepfake threats, distribution or coercive use can form part of domestic or family violence. NSW’s evolving coercive control reforms recognise technology-facilitated abuse as a mechanism for intimidation, control and humiliation.
While, under NSW WHS legislation, employers are not responsible for managing the DFV perpetrator if not an employee, they are responsible for managing the risk and impact on the worker’s health and safety when DFV affects work.
This includes psychological impacts, safety concerns, distress and the effect on capacity to work.
What leaders need to do now
This issue requires deliberate, informed and proactive leadership. It sits at the intersection of WHS, gender equality, digital risk and organisational culture.
Leaders should ensure that:
1. Deepfakes are recognised as a psychosocial risk
Include technology-facilitated abuse in risk assessments, especially for employees in public-facing or high-visibility roles.
2. Policies and procedures are updated
Policies should explicitly reference:
- deepfakes,
- digitally altered intimate images,
- impersonation,
- circulation of harmful content.
Clear definitions reduce ambiguity and strengthen response.
3. Reporting pathways are safe and confidential
Multiple reporting options should exist, supported by trauma-informed practice and clear escalation protocols.
4. Affected employees receive structured support
This includes:
- privacy and confidentiality safeguards,
- psychological support,
- workload adjustments,
- specialist advice on eSafety or police reporting,
- coordinated WHS, HR and legal support.
5. Internal circulation is treated as serious misconduct
Viewing, sharing or commenting on sexualised deepfakes involving colleagues may constitute sexual harassment and must be addressed decisively.
6. Leadership communicates clear expectations
Workers need direct, practical communication about behavioural standards and organisational commitment.
7. Governance provides oversight
Boards and executives should be briefed regularly on digital harms, WHS implications, risk controls and organisational readiness.
8. Controls are reviewed regularly
Deepfake technology is evolving. Risk management practices and staff capability must evolve with it.
The broader organisational risk
Failure to address deepfake abuse may:
- deter women from public-facing roles,
- contribute to psychological injury,
- create legal and regulatory exposure,
- erode trust in leadership,
- undermine gender equality progress.
Deepfake abuse is not speculative. It is a present and expanding safety concern for Australian workplaces.
Conclusion
Deepfake abuse crosses personal, public and professional boundaries. It creates real harm and disproportionately affects women. NSW and Australian laws already impose clear responsibilities: employers must identify and control psychosocial risks, and must take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent harassment, hostile environments and gender-based harm — whether the behaviour occurs onsite, online or outside work.
Leaders who understand their obligations and respond proactively will protect their people, strengthen culture, and meet their legal responsibilities. Those who delay will find themselves responding reactively to avoidable harm.
Deepfake abuse will continue to evolve. Workplace responses must evolve with it.
An Invitation
If you’re interested in building AI systems — and AI policy — that actively support fairness, inclusion, and accountability, **join us at **ada.ai and help shape the future of inclusive AI.