AI Progress Could Lead To Surge In Child Sexual Abuse Videos, Warns Watchdog

According to the Internet Watch Foundation, paedophiles are leveraging advances in artificial intelligence to create AI-generated videos of child sexual abuse, with the potential for these videos to proliferate as the technology progresses.

Most cases observed by the safety watchdog involve the alteration of existing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or adult pornography, where a child's face is superimposed onto the footage.

The organisation, which monitors CSAM globally, expressed concern that the increasing availability and ease of use of AI tools could lead to a rise in AI-generated CSAM videos.

Dan Sexton, CTO at the IWF, noted that if AI video tools follow the trend of AI-generated images, which have increased with technological advancement and accessibility, more CSAM videos could emerge.

IWF analysts reported that most videos observed on a dark web forum used by pedophiles were partial deepfakes, created with freely available online AI models.

It also noted that AI-generated CSAM images have become more photo-realistic this year compared to 2023, when they first began encountering this type of content.