The Biden administration has announced new initiatives to combat online harassment and assist domestic violence survivors, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Major companies, including Adobe, Microsoft, and OpenAI, have pledged to remove nude images from AI training datasets and implement strategies to prevent the release of image-based sexual abuse.

The Justice Department is funding resources to tackle cybercrimes related to gender-based violence, including establishing a national resource center to assist law enforcement in addressing issues like cyberstalking and non-consensual image distribution.

This initiative aims to address the rising problem of image-based sexual abuse, particularly affecting women, children, and LGBTQI+ individuals.

Since VAWA's enactment in 1994, domestic violence rates have decreased by 67%, and rapes and sexual assaults have declined by 56%, according to FBI statistics.

Jen Klein, the White House gender policy adviser, emphasized that while progress has been made since VAWA's signing, significant work remains to combat gender-based violence.

Overall, these initiatives represent a significant step toward creating safer digital environments and addressing the ethical challenges posed by advanced technologies.

Experts stress that while these principles are a step forward, practical changes in industry practices are necessary to effectively address the evolving threats posed by generative AI.

Payment companies like Cash App and Square have also pledged to monitor and limit payments related to image-based sexual abuse and support the detection of sextortion schemes.

The involvement of Common Crawl, a major data repository for AI training, sets a precedent for other organizations to ensure responsible data sourcing.

Notably, major firms like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta did not sign the agreement, although many are part of initiatives to aid victims of image-based sexual abuse.

The American Rescue Plan allocated approximately $1 billion to support domestic violence and sexual assault programs, benefiting numerous service programs.