Treat deepfaked child abuse images as real crimes, urges MCA info chief

The recent rise in artificial intelligence (AI) generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) warrants our attention. We must treat this issue with the concern it deserves and recognise that it poses a very real danger. While AI has brought about many advancements, its misuse in generating synthetic, hyper-realistic CSAM is enabling new forms of exploitation that are harder to detect and more damaging than ever before. When a child’s image is manipulated into sexual content, it is an act of violation.

When the use of AI-generated images becomes normalised, it creates the dangerous illusion that “it is not real, so it is no big deal.” AI-generated abuse content is not a harmless fantasy. It is part of a wider issue that normalises child exploitation. Furthermore, under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, it is a crime to produce, possess, or distribute child sexual abuse material using any means, including artificial intelligence. If the depiction is sexual and involves a child, whether real, edited or computer-generated, an offence has been committed.