How do we stop AI-generated ‘poverty porn’ fake images?

There is an important and necessary conversation happening right now about the use of generative artificial intelligence in global health and humanitarian communications.

Researchers like Arsenii Alenichev are correctly identifying a new wave of “poverty porn 2.0,” where artificial intelligence is used to generate stereotypical, racialized images of suffering—the very tropes many of us have worked for decades to banish.

The alarms are valid.

The images are harmful.

But I am deeply concerned that in our rush to condemn the new technology, we are misdiagnosing the cause.

The problem is not the tool.

The problem is the user.

Generative artificial intelligence is not the cause of poverty porn.

The root cause is the deep-seeded racism and colonial mindset that have defined the humanitarian aid and global health sectors since their inception.

This is not a new phenomenon.

It is a long-standing pattern.

In my private conversations with colleagues and researchers like Alenichev, I find we often agree on this point.

Yet, the public-facing writing and research seem to stop short, focusing on the technological symptom rather than the systemic illness.

It is vital we correct this focus before we implement the wrong solutions.

The old poison in a new bottle

Long before Midjourney, large organizations and their communications teams were propagating the worst kinds of caricatures.

I know this.

Many of us know this.

We remember the history of award-winning photographers being sent from the Global North to “find… miserable kids” and stage images to meet the needs of funders. Organizations have always been willing to manufacture narratives that “show… people on the receiving end of aid as victims”.

These working cultures — which demand images of suffering, which view Black and Brown bodies as instruments for fundraising, and which prioritize the “western gaze” — existed decades before artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence did not create this impulse.

It just made it cheaper, faster, and easier to execute.

It is an enabler, not an originator.

If an organization’s communications philosophy is rooted in colonial stereotypes, it will produce colonial stereotypes, whether it is using a 1000-dollar-a-day photographer or a 30-dollar-a-month software subscription.

The danger of a misdiagnosis

If we incorrectly identify artificial intelligence as the cause of this problem, our “solution” will be to ban the technology.

This would be a catastrophic mistake.

First, it is a superficial fix.

It allows the very organizations producing this content to performatively cleanse themselves by banning a tool, all while eluding the fundamental, painful work of challenging their own underlying racism and colonial impulses.

The problem will not be solved; it will simply revert to being expressed through traditional (and often staged) photography.

Second, it punishes the wrong people.

For local actors and other small organizations, generative artificial intelligence is not necessarily a tool for creating poverty porn.

It is a tactical advantage in a fight for survival.

Such organizations may lack the resources for a full communication team.

They are then “punished by algorithms” that demand a constant stream of visuals, burying stories of organizations that cannot provide them.

Furthermore, some organizations committed to dignity in representation are also using artificial intelligence to solve other deep ethical problems.

They use it to create dignified portraits for stories without having to navigate the complex and often extractive issues of child protection and consent.

They use it to avoid exploiting real people.

A blanket ban on artificial intelligence in our sector would disarm small, local organizations.

It would silence those of us trying to use the tool ethically, while allowing the large, wealthy organizations to continue their old, harmful practices unchanged.

The real work ahead

This is why I must insist we reframe the debate.

The question is not if we should use artificial intelligence.

The question is, and has always been, how we challenge the racist systems that demand these images in the first place.

My Algerian ancestors fought colonialism.

I cannot separate my work at The Geneva Learning Foundation from the struggle against racism and fighting for the right to tell our own stories.

That philosophy guides how I use any tool, whether it is a word processor or an image generator.

The tool is not the ethic.

We need to demand accountability from organizations like the World Health Organization, Plan International, and even the United Nations.

We must challenge the working cultures that green-light these campaigns.

We should also, as Arsenii rightly points out, support local photographers and artists.

But we must not let organizations off the hook by allowing them to blame a piece of software for their own lack of imagination and their deep, unaddressed colonial legacies.

Artificial intelligence is not the problem.

Our sector’s colonial mindset is.

References

• Alenichev, A., Kingori, P., Grietens, K.P., 2025. Reflections before the storm: the AI reproduction of biased imagery in global health visuals. The Lancet Global Health 11, e1496–e1498. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00329-7
• Aisha Down, 2025. AI-generated ‘poverty porn’ fake images being used by aid agencies. The Guardian.
• Gill, D., Levidow, L., 1987. Anti-racist science teaching.

Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

#ArseniiAlenichev #ArtificialIntelligence #decolonization #generativeAI #globalHealth #photography #povertyPorn #representation

📖 The 20th issue of Práticas da História has been published!

Coordinated by Noemi Alfieri, its theme is ‘(Digital) Retrospectives on Historiography from Africa: Decolonization, the African press, and the uses of knowledge.’

🔓 Available in #OpenAccess at https://praticasdahistoria.pt/issue/view/2054

#Histodons #CiênciaAberta #OAWeek #AfricanStudies #Historiography #UsesOfThePast #Decolonization #Decolonisation #Press #Historiografia #UsosDoPassado #Imprensa #Nigeria #Angola #Africa #AcessoAberto

Relooted has a free demo on Steam right now and you learn about colonial crimes in mission briefing. Going off retreive Mangi Melis head from a private collector in Germany now.... #decolonization #steam #relooted

Rising from the ground up — the work of remembering we belong to what we tend.
#WhenThePeopleRise #Decolonize #Reciprocity #RegenerativeAgriculture #Farmastery #LifeboatAcademy #decolonization

There Is No Plan B by Gregg Deal, 2016 (mixed media)
#greggdeal #art #Indigenousidentity #decolonization #socialjustice

"#HowardFrench’s stunning new book, #TheSecondEmancipation, is an epic of the 20th century’s most consequential years with #Africa’s sudden #decolonisation intertwined with the US #civilRightsMovement, through the many layered portrait of #Ghana’s visionary independance leader #KwameNkrumah."

https://afriquexxi.info/Nkumah-s-epic-from-Ghana-to-Harlem

#BlackHistory #UShistory #AfricanHistory #USpol #USpolitics #AfricanPolitics #panafricanism #decolonialStruggles #Nkrumah #decolonization #books @bookstodon

While waiting at the hospital for Mom to get 2 IV treatments, over 6 hours (not including 1 hr of wait time to get IVs started), I did some peace #activism. I chatted with random staff & people who I saw around the cafeteria, gardens, outside on benches & by the bus stop. Gave them #BoycottIsraeliApartheid stickers & some of these #AntiWar #peace #stickers. Encouraged them to pass on the anti-war peace words, join the global boycott & ask others to join in too.

#WarSurvivorsForPeace #SanctionIsrael #BoycottUSA #StopGenocide #ApartheidIsrael #IsraelIsATerroristState #BDSMovement #ZionismIsACult #Decolonization #AntiFascist #AntiCapitalist #AntiColonial #PowerToThePeoples #CivilResistance #FightForJustice #Landback #EndColonialViolence #DecolonizeYourMind #BIPOC #AsianMastodon #SupportWarRefugees #CitizensUprising #GlobalRevolution #BoycottsWork

#josephbeuys #metacrisis #climateaction #societalcollapse #decolonization #socialjustice #artactivism

Deeyah Khan's #documentary is worth watching.

"I sat down face to face with #WhiteNationalists and #neoNazis, men who see people like me a #Muslim woman and daughter of immigrants, as their enemy.

I wanted to understand: what drives their anger? Why do they believe in hate and division?

White Right: Meeting the Enemy takes you inside their world. It is a journey into the heart of #extremism and an exploration of whether dialogue and a recognition of our shared #humanity can break through walls of hate.

This was one of the most dangerous, personal and meaningful projects I have ever worked on."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hvt5ScfjpDo

#WhiteSupremacy #Racism #Bigotry #Decolonization #Fascists #WhitePowerIdeology #RacistMindsets #DecolonizeYourMind #DocFilm #FilmProject #Misogynists #WomenInFilm #WhiteColonialism

Disrupting white people's celebrations of war criminals next month.

#ColonizerCrimes #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Decolonization #FuckYourWhitewash

I'm making myself another custom wearable in a few weeks. It will include a bloody #machete & text that says: #Volunteer #Nazi #Hunter.

#Decolonization #AntiFascist #ChopNazis #MakeNaziSoupForPigs #FeedNazisToPigs #RepurposeNazisForPigFeed #DestroyNazis #KnifeNazis #ChaseOutNazis #StopToleratingNazis

When Mom takes her 2 hours afternoon nap, I'm going to ride out on my mobility scooter to distribute 100 #BoycottIsraeliApartheid stickers & #StopGenocideInGaza info leaflets. I have 500 of each to distribute, locally. I'm aiming for distribution of 100/week until they're all given out to locals around #Saanich #VictoriaBC #Esquimalt #ViewRoyal #Vicwest #Colwood #Langford areas.

Please take some sort of actions to support #PalestineSolidarity ✊️❤️🍉🇵🇸🍉❤️
Everyone can do something to show your solidarity support for #Palestinians suffering starvation #genocide under occupying #Zionazis.

#FreePalestine #FeedPalestine #PeaceActivists #IsraelIsATerroristState #ZionismIsACult #SanctionIsrael #OstracizeZionists #LiberationForPalestine #PalestineSovereignty #Decolonization #TakeAction #CitizensUprising #WarSurvivorsForPeace

@communityedition Of interest to #AsianMastodon #TootSEA #SouthEastAsian #ColonialTheft #Decolonization #AntiColonialism

https://community.admitone.com/commie-bop-open-mic-2025-10-07/MDU37A?

Hosted by PINDN and Wes Carroll A #CommieBop is an expression of freedom, verve, and solidarity. Share yours with us—let’s bask in the liberating imagination of our city!
Sign Up Via Google Forums or at 6:45pm before the event. Doors: 6pm Event: 7pm - 10pm Performer sign up: https://forms.gle/kXjoJbyf155p1ktY9

All proceeds go to Awi'nakola: Tree of Life Foundation A Commie Bop is freedom in motion—a song, a poem, a spell, a skit, a dance against the grind of #colonial #capitalism. It’s where creativity smashes exploitation, where solidarity squeezes alienation, and where we (yes, we, the ridiculous and unruly) celebrate our collective fire. This is a space to howl #anticapitalist anthems, share art that bites back, and honor past and future generations. #Leftist debates? Vital. But tonight we revel in the kaleidoscope of our movement, checking our purity test kits at the door with our hearts open to each other’s stories. We have license to be silly little peasants! Think Carnival mocking lords and kings…

#OpenMic Sets: Your offering does NOT need to involve a complex analysis - our day-to-day experiences put us into the crosshairs of capitalism’s contradictions. Sets should be 10 minutes or less. Please explain why you chose or wrote what you’re sharing. #Performers are encouraged to make space for audience participation - teach us your chorus, wrangle us into your skit, add call and response, or bring up Alice to play the tambourine or the triangle.

All acts should, in their own unique way, call for an end to exploitation and discrimination. This space celebrates dignity. Check lyrics for oppressive language (racist, sexist, ableist, SWERFS, TERFS, etc.). We fight systems, not each other. Please respect the venue.

We will save five sets as first come first serve before the event and open up the rest for folks who wish to register via Google Forms. NOT READY YET? Join the crowd, soak up the vibes, and cook something up for next time.

#VictoriaBC #AnarchoSocialists #Anarchists #YYJEvents #CommunityEvent #CommunitySharing #CommunityEngagement #PerformingArts #Skits #Lekwungen #Songhees #Esquimalt #Wsanec #Saanich #Vicwest #ViewRoyal #ActsOfResistance #AntiColonial #decolonization #DecolonizeYourMind #CommunistsWelcome #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PNW

The Academy by Kent Monkman, 2008 (acrylic on canvas)
#kentmonkman #decolonization #contemporaryart #firstnationsart #queerart #art

UN releases landmark report recognizing Hindu indigeneity, challenging colonial narratives and advocating for indigenous rights across 56 ancient nations. A critical examination of cultural preservation and self-determination. #Indigeneity #Decolonization

#ElinorOstrom #sociocracy #metacrisis #societalcollapse #CommunityOrganizing #decolonization

Another example of how I can't help but try to do #decolonization everywhere I go! I am super open about the need to #decolonize the whole world! I will spread the word & am used to dealing with jerks who hate my decolonization efforts too. Fuck em. Weakass shits.