The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is getting an increasing number of reports about AI-generated CSAM. Leaders in the space, like

AI Is Creating An Influx Of Child Sex Abuse Images, Data Shows

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2024-04-16 18:00:02

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is getting an increasing number of reports about AI-generated CSAM. Leaders in the space, like OpenAI, are beginning to intervene.

The mainstreaming of AI image generators has brought with it an influx of artificial child sexual abuse imagery, according to a new report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The nonprofit—a go-between that funnels information about suspected CSAM and child sexual exploitation from tech and social media companies to law enforcement globally—received 36.2 million such reports to its “CyberTipline” in 2023, up from north of 32 million the year prior and more than double the pre-pandemic volume in 2019. Of those 36.2 million, NCMEC determined almost 5,000 to be the result of generative AI, though it says the actual count is likely considerably higher.

“It's fairly small volume when considering the overall total of the CyberTipline reports, but our concern is that we're going to continue to see that grow, especially as companies get better at detecting and reporting,” Fallon McNulty, director of the CyberTipline at NCMEC, told Forbes.