The illicit diffusion of intimate photographs or videos intended for private use is a troubling phenomenon known as the diffusion of Non-Consensual Intimate Images (NCII). Recently, it has been feared that the spread of deepfake technology, which allows users to fabricate fake intimate images or videos that are indistinguishable from genuine ones, may dramatically extend the scope of NCII. In the present essay, we counter this pessimistic view, arguing for qualified optimism instead. We hypothesize that the growing diffusion of deepfakes will end up disrupting the status that makes our visual experience of photographic images and videos epistemically and affectively special; and that once divested of this status, NCII will lose much of their allure in the eye of the perpetrators, probably resulting in diminished diffusion. We conclude by offering some caveats and drawing some implications to better understand, and ultimately better counter, this phenomenon.

Intelligence artificielle, pratiques sociales et politiques publiques AI for Facial Autobiographical Memory Recovering and Transmission. A Study for a Mobile and Web Application AI per il recupero e la trasmissione della memoria autobiografica facciale. Uno studio per un'applicazione mobile e web

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By questioning the attribution of a primary role to the eyes as bearers of identity within traditional Western culture, this paper will problematize the agentivity performed by the lower mereology of the face, identified with the mouth-nose assemblage. In particular, the study will focus on the manipulation of such facial spatiality through the intervention of three “lower face” artifacts: the grill, the ball gag and the gas mask. This piece of work will examine their plastic and figurative dimensions in the technological interaction with the facial organs. Furthermore, we will take into consideration the sociocultural context of wearability performed by the different bearers with the aim of grasping the identity shift that the artifacts trigger. The study, therefore, will organize the corpus as a sequence that starts inside the oral cavity where the grill is worn; then moves to a progressive exteriority with the ball gag that emerges from the mouth through the straps fastened around the head; eventually dealing with the exterior projection operated by the gas mask which by means of its filters portends beyond the anatomical face. Ultimately the three artifacts are presented as a threefold articulation of a liminal agency towards an expanded form of humanity including animality embedded within and without the space of meaning represented by the face.

The paper proposes a Peircean semiotics approach to the Archives Studies based on the notion of performativity. In this context, the study of discourses shifts from the representational verification to their effectiveness; the question is no longer about what they represent, but about what discourses are capable of producing in a time and a community. The objective of the paper is to challenge the cultural practice of archiving with these notions. To do this, a semiotic methodology is used to allow the investigation of the ways in which the archives make sense, as well as the aspects that are involved in that production of meaning. Three major interrelated fields of research will thus be defined: the archive as construction of a memory; the archive as the storage and constitution of objects and documents; the archive as the systematization of the archive material.