Watchdog: AI Being Used to Spread Child Sexual Abuse Material

The Facts

• The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a child-safety watchdog, says pedophiles are using advances in AI to spread an increasing volume of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

• The UK-based group released an update Monday building on its initial investigative report from October 2023, when it analyzed more than 20K AI-generated images posted to a dark-web CSAM forum in a one-month period.

• IWF's update found that AI was used to create 3,512 CSAM images and videos that were posted in a 30-day span on the same forum, a 17% increase from last fall. IWF also reported that the nature of the content has become more explicit and extreme.