Published: Wed 25 Oct 2023
A leading child protection organisation has warned that abuse of AI technology threatens to "overwhelm" the internet.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), external removes images of child sexual abuse from websites.
It says it has found thousands of AI-generated images which are so realistic they are criminal under UK law, external.
AI is being used to produce new images of real victims, de-age celebrities and unclothe children in ordinary photos to depict them in abuse scenarios.
"Our worst nightmares have come true," said Susie Hargreaves OBE, chief executive of Cambridge-based IWF.
"Chillingly, we are seeing criminals deliberately training their AI on real victims' images.
"Children who have been raped in the past are now being incorporated into new scenarios because someone, somewhere, wants to see it."
Read the full article at BBC News.
Messaging app Telegram will deploy new tools to prevent the spread of images of child sexual abuse after teaming up with the Internet Watch Foundation.
After years of ignoring pleas to sign up to child protection schemes, the controversial messaging app Telegram has agreed to work with an internationally recognised body to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The images that Nelson made have been linked back to real children around the world. In some cases, he then went on to encourage his clients to rape and sexually assault the youngsters.