192. Inside Detrans.AI: The Tool Revealing Why People Leave Trans Identity | Peter James Steven

Dec 15, 2025

Peter James Steven, a web developer from Wellington, New Zealand, shares his journey of creating Detrans.AI, a tool that amplifies detransitioners' perspectives. He discusses the ethical choices in building the AI, including its design to avoid biases found in Western models. The conversation reveals critical insights, such as age patterns in transition, gender differences in motivations, and the powerful impact of therapy on detransition. Peter also confronts the 'born this way' narrative and highlights the importance of proper support for individuals questioning their identities.

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ANECDOTE

Personal Catalyst For The Project

Peter built detrans.ai after a family member transitioned and he wanted to understand why people transition and detransition.
His curiosity about a loved one led to a public project amplifying detransitioner stories and data.

INSIGHT

Using RAG To Preserve Detrans Perspectives

Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) lets a chatbot answer using a curated corpus instead of retraining a model from scratch.
Peter used RAG to surface detrans subreddit content and avoid mainstream model guardrails.

INSIGHT

Model Choice Shapes Narrative Framing

Mainstream models like ChatGPT often enforce gender-affirming narratives via safety layers.
Peter selected a Chinese model (Kimi K2) that was more open to gender-critical perspectives.

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Today I’m joined by the founder of Detrans.AI, an innovative chatbot and data tool designed to amplify the perspectives of detransitioners. A young web developer from Wellington, New Zealand, Peter shares how his journey began with trying to understand a loved one, and how his search for answers led him to discover the largely silenced stories of those with transition regret.

We dive deep into the technical and ethical decisions Peter made while building Detrans.ai, including his choice to use a Chinese AI model (Kimi K2) to avoid the pro-gender ideology bias baked into Western AI systems like ChatGPT. Peter walks us through the site's powerful data visualizations, which reveal striking patterns: the peak ages for transition and detransition, the gender differences in why people transition (with autogynephilia prominent for males and internalized misogyny for females), and perhaps most importantly—that proper psychotherapy is the number one factor leading to detransition for females.

We explore how parents and questioning individuals can use this tool, the social backlash Peter has faced for creating it, and why dismantling the "born this way" narrative is essential for protecting young people experiencing gender distress. This conversation offers hope that ethical therapists are beginning to step forward and that tools like Detrans.ai can help bridge the gap between concerned parents and the truth about what's really driving the gender crisis.

Peter James Steven is a developer and designer from Wellington, New Zealand. He recently developed a sited called detrans.ai to promote the experiences and perspectives of detransitioners. Detrans.ai is primarily a chatbot that deconstructs gender concepts and to promotes holistic, non-medical approaches to healing gender distress. It integrates knowledge from the /r/detrans subreddit, which is the largest open collection of detrans experiences on the internet. Follow him on X @pjamessteven.

[00:00:00] Start
[00:03:45] Why the "Born This Way" Narrative Is Toxic
[00:09:30] Building AI Without Gender Ideology Bias
[00:17:45] The 5000% Increase in Gender Dysphoria Referrals
[00:27:30] Analyzing 2,700 Detransitioner Stories
[00:35:00] Male vs Female Transition Reasons Compared
[00:42:32] What Actually Causes People to Detransition
[00:49:27] Tour of the Detrans.ai Platform
[00:57:45] Debunking Common Gender Ideology Myths
[01:02:35] Message to Detransitioners and Closing Thoughts

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Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI.

Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission.

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