AI-generated imagery of child sexual abuse has progressed at a “frightening” rate, reveals a report update from the IWF

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, is seeing the first realistic examples of ‘deepfake’ AI videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, created by offenders using AI tools to add the face or likeness of a child to an existing video, as well as rudimentary, fully synthetic videos.

The report update from the IWF, the UK’s front line fighting online child sexual abuse imagery, shows how offenders are using faster and more accessible tools to create criminal content, that can be found on the open internet.

The team at the IWF warned the public last year about the increasing realism of AI-generated images depicting child sexual abuse and the harm this technological development can inflict on current and potential victims.

IWF Internet Content Analyst Alex [not their real name] said: “This is an indication of rapid advances in technology and expertise. Previously, some AI-generated scenarios were difficult to portray with much realism, but now we are seeing offenders experiencing success generating more extreme, ‘hardcore’, pseudo-photographs of child sexual abuse.

“It’s no matter that the fully AI-generated videos that we are now seeing are at a rudimentary stage, they are a stark vision of the future, are still criminal and shocking to view.”

Read the full article and report at iwf.org.uk/aireport