AI-generated images of child sexual abuse can look like ‘real’ images of child sexual abuse, or they can look like non-photographic images (NPI) of child sexual abuse.
- If they look like ‘real’ images of child sexual abuse, under UK law they are treated exactly like ‘real’ child sexual abuse images. These are added to the IWF URL list and removal of the content is pursued.
- If they look like non-photographic images of child sexual abuse, they are treated as prohibited images. These are added to the IWF NPI list.
In both cases, the content is criminal under UK law.
|
Category under the law |
Actioned AI child sexual abuse reports |
Other reports containing AI content |
|
Child sexual abuse imagery |
42 |
212 |
|
Prohibited imagery |
9 |
16 |
|
Total |
51 |
228 |
The above table gives a breakdown of reports where the analyst has identified and ‘tagged’ all sorts of (criminal and non-criminal) AI-generated content.
It shows that:
- In total, 51 URLs processed in 2023 contained actionable AI-generated images of child sexual abuse.
- Most (42) of these looked like ‘real’ images, so were processed as such.
- 228 other URLs contained AI-generated content, but not AI-generated images of child sexual abuse.
AI-generated child sexual abuse is a growing concern and is being monitored closely by IWF. You can read more in our AI child sexual abuse report released in October 2023 here. It contains a snapshot study of AI generated child sexual abuse images posted on a dark web forum, which is not reflected in the URL figures above.