Artificial Intelligence (AI) Facilitated Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
Professional Guide to Assist Children and Young Individuals
What is AI?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to powerful digital technologies that mimic qualities of the human mind — like understanding language, recognizing pictures, solving problems, and learning new things. We are now entering Generation AI (Gen AI), where these technologies can create brand‑new content, including text, images, audio, and video. Many Gen AI tools are freely available online, requiring no special technical skills — just type in a request, and the AI generates it for you.
Concerns of Gen AI
- Creation of synthetic CSAM: Generative AI can produce realistic but fake CSAM. Even if no real child is involved, such content is illegal, harmful, and can normalize abuse.
- Deepfake technology: AI can alter images or videos to create fake CSAM by manipulating faces, voices, or bodies of minors — a direct violation of consent and dignity.
- Detection challenges: AI‑generated CSAM often escapes traditional detection systems like PhotoDNA. New, smarter safeguards are needed for online safety.
What are the Risks?
AI‑generated CSAM creates severe risks — normalizing exploitation, enabling blackmail and harassment, and fuelling the dark CSAM market. Deepfakes can also target specific children, causing trauma and fear. With traditional detection failing against synthetic content, it is urgent to adopt stronger regulations, advanced detection tools, built‑in safeguards in AI platforms, and global collaboration to protect children.
FAQs
Why would anyone create AI‑CSAM?
- As a revenge mechanism against a child or parent.
- To blackmail a child for money or to pressure them into sending more images.
- As a so‑called “joke” by teenagers — without realizing the devastating impact.
What should I do if my child’s photo has been misused?
- Children should immediately reach out to a trusted adult for support.
- Report the content on the platform where it was found.
- Report directly to the Online Safety Commission (Phone: 9980242) or the nearest police station.
How can I protect my children?
- Supervise online activity.
- Enable parental controls and keep privacy settings updated.
- Talk openly with children about AI risks.
- Provide consistent emotional support and guidance.
Resources
AI Poster
Visual guide with key messages about AI and CSAM. Perfect for awareness campaigns.