Generative AI can turn a short text prompt into a realistic image within seconds. But some people are exploiting the technology to create images depicting child abuse, a problem that is rapidly worsening.
اضافة اعلان
According to The Guardian, organizations working to combat such content detected more material during the first six months of 2026 than they had throughout all of 2025.
How serious has the problem become?
The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which works to identify online child abuse material, detected 6,310 illegal AI-generated images between January and June. Last year, the figure was just over 4,500 images, representing an increase of 40%. Most of the images depicted girls, the majority of them children between the ages of 7 and 13, according to Digital Trends.
Report Remove, a tool that helps people remove intimate images from the internet, received 420 reports from children who believed someone had manipulated their photos to make them appear pornographic. That figure is higher than the total number of reports recorded by the tool throughout last year, which stood at 397.
Are current laws enough?
The UK already criminalizes AI-generated images depicting child abuse. It is also illegal to modify an AI model to produce such images or to pass such a model on to another person. Creating a model specifically for this purpose can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.
However, the Internet Watch Foundation believes the law should be broader. Hannah Sowersby, the foundation’s policy lead, has called for mandatory AI regulations requiring companies to design safer models from the outset.
“Technology companies have a responsibility to build tools that cannot be misused in this way,” she said.
There are currently no indications of a dedicated AI bill. Kanishka Narayan, the UK minister for AI, said that “all options are on the table,” and that any proposal would be assessed based on how much it contributes to making people in the UK safer.
How can parents protect their children?
The National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation both advise families to stop posting photos of their children publicly. If photos must be shared, parents are advised to make their accounts private or limit access to a small circle of close friends.
It can be difficult to resist the urge to post a photo of your child on their first day of school. But taking a few minutes today to review your privacy settings could save your family a great deal of distress.
Resource: Al-Ghad.
