AI-generated child sexual abuse content is increasingly being found on publicly accessible areas of the internet, exposing it to more people, an internet watchdog has warned. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which finds and removes child sexual abuse content from the internet, said in the past six months alone it had seen more reports of AI-generated abuse content than in the 12 months prior to that.
Rather than being hidden in forums on the dark web, the IWF stated that 99% of this content was found on publicly accessible areas of the internet, with the watchdog warning of the distressing nature of encountering such images. Recent months show that this problem is not going away and is, in fact, getting worse, according to Derek Ray-Hill from the Internet Watch Foundation.
In its data, the IWF revealed that 78% of the reports it received came from members of the public who had stumbled across the imagery on sites such as forums or AI galleries. Many of the AI-generated images and videos of children being hurt or abused are so realistic that they can be difficult to distinguish from imagery of real children, and are classified as criminal content under UK law.
More than half of the AI-generated content found in the past six months was hosted on servers in two countries – Russia and the United States, as per the IWF’s figures. Derek Ray-Hill, interim chief executive of the IWF, emphasised the harm caused by AI-generated child sexual abuse material and urged prioritisation of child protection and prevention by legislators and the tech industry.
Campaigners have called for strict regulation around the training and development of AI models to ensure they do not generate harmful content. Becky Riggs from the National Police Chiefs’ Council highlighted the scale of online child sexual abuse and the threat posed by the increased use of artificial intelligence to generate abusive images. Law enforcement is committed to prosecuting online child abusers and working with tech companies to make their platforms safe for children and young people.
The need for tangible measures to address the risks associated with AI-generated abuse imagery was underscored, with a call for legislative action to keep pace with the digital age. There is a growing consensus on the importance of safeguards to prevent the widespread use of AI for generating harmful or exploitative content.
The collaborative effort between law enforcement, government, and industry aims to harness technology to combat online child sexual abuse and exploitation effectively. As the prevalence of AI-generated imagery continues to rise, it is crucial for stakeholders to come together to protect vulnerable individuals and ensure a safer online environment for all.