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AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse
Context:
The UK Home Office announced on February 1 the introduction of four new legal measures aimed at combating AI-generated CSAM. These laws will be part of the broader Crime and Policing Bill, which will be presented in Parliament soon.
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- The UK will become the first country to make it illegal to possess, create, or distribute AI tools designed to generate CSAM, with offenders facing up to five years in prison.
- The UK government’s new laws will criminalise “nudeifying” children’s images and “stitching faces” of other children onto existing images.
AI-Generated CSAM
- AI technology has enabled offenders to create realistic child abuse images and videos, often by:
- Using text-to-image tools to generate explicit content.
- “Nudifying” real images by replacing the faces of victims.
- In some cases, real-life voices of children are also used, leading to the re-victimisation of innocent survivors.
Statistics and Impact
- The National Crime Agency (NCA) reports that 800 arrests are made each month for crimes related to online child abuse, and 840,000 adults pose a risk to children in the UK, both online and offline.
- The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported a 380% increase in AI-generated CSAM, with 245 confirmed cases in 2024, compared to 51 in 2023.
- AI-generated child abuse images are increasingly found on dark web sites, with 3,512 such images identified on a single site over 30 days in 2024.
- Category A images (most severe) have also increased by 10% compared to the previous year.
Key Provisions of the New Laws
- It will be illegal to possess, create, or distribute AI tools designed to generate CSAM, with a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.
- Possessing AI paedophile manuals (guides on using AI to generate CSAM) will lead to a 3-year prison sentence.
- Running websites that allow paedophiles to share CSAM or offer grooming advice will be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
- The UK Border Force will have the authority to inspect the digital devices of individuals entering the country who may pose a sexual risk to children.
- Immigrants found with AI-generated CSAM could face up to 3 years in prison, depending on the severity of the images.
The UK’s initiative marks a historic first step in regulating AI’s role in online child exploitation. The government hopes this will set a global precedent and encourage other countries to introduce similar laws to combat AI-driven abuse.
