By Hallie Martyniuk
Principal, TD3 Consulting
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing our world, including how we work, live, and communicate. Although it has brought about tremendous advancements; it has also opened the door to unprecedented risks to the safety of children.
AI is computer technology that provides the ability to easily produce digital images and videos depicting child sexual abuse. Increasingly, predators are accessing publicly available AI technology to do this, which is significantly increasing the availability of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) online.
Perpetrators can use AI to create CSAM in a variety of ways:
- To “nudify” the image of a child, making it appear as though the child is nude.
- To make sexually explicit images, even if no sexual abuse happened during their creation.
- To generate depictions of children that are indistinguishable from images of real children. These are called “Deepfakes.”
- To disguise images of real children being abused by making the image look computer-generated.
- To create an image of a child being sexually abused via text prompts. Text prompts are keywords or sentences that provide input to AI language models to generate material.
- To re-victimize child sexual abuse victims by using AI to edit previously created content to create new content.
Sextortion
Child predators can also use AI-edited CSAM to extort children and their families for financial gain. This is called sextortion. A young person is threatened with the possibility of having his or her nude or sexual images (real or AI-generated) publicly shared unless he or she meets the demands of the blackmailer for additional sexual content, sexual activity, or money.
Sextortion cases are on the rise, and they are happening in your own backyard! The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has recorded a nearly 400% increase in sextortion reports since 2018 (Brewster, 2022).
Based on reported cases (Cybertip!CA):
- Eighty-three percent of sextortion victims have been male.
- Extortion demands for money often come from international organized criminal networks.
- Eighty-four percent of sextortion incidents occurred on Instagram or Snapchat. The contact often begins on Instagram, then moves to Snapchat.
AI and Grooming
Similar to other forms of child sexual abuse, offenders using AI must groom children to gain their trust and access to the child. They work to develop a relationship where the child feels comfortable doing things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, such as sharing explicit images or videos of themselves. These images don’t always immediately include nudity or sexual acts. Children are manipulated to become increasingly comfortable with the offender’s requests. They may begin slowly and progress into requests for pictures with more revealing clothing, nudity, or other sexual content. This process can happen quickly, during a single interaction, or over time.
Resources to Protect Children
Protecting children online has never been easy, and with the rise of AI, it has become even more complicated. Currently, 45 States do have laws that criminalize AI-generated, computer-generated, or modified CSAM. However, technology is developing quickly, and lawmakers are scrambling to keep up. Currently under consideration in states like Pennsylvania is legislation that would require Mandated Reporters to report incidents of CSAM that they might encounter. If this becomes law, additional training that covers this responsibility will be essential.
As law makers are working to get laws in place that will protect children, there are places where you can find up to date information and resources.
Know2Protect: Together We Can Stop Online Child Exploitation™ https://www.dhs.gov/know2protect
SchoolSafety.gov: Resources to help educators, school leaders, parents, and school personnel identify, prevent, and respond to child exploitation https://www.schoolsafety.gov/child-exploitation
Sextortion: It is more common than you think. What it is and what parents can do. https://www.ice.gov/features/sextortion
Take It Down: A service to help remove online nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit photos and videos taken before you were eighteen. https://www.missingkids.org/home
If you suspect a child might be a victim of online sexual exploitation, call the Department of Homeland Security Know2Protect Tip Line at 1-833-591-KNOW (5669) and complete the online National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tipline form at https://report.cybertip.org/reporting.
Resources
Artificial Intelligence and combatting online. (n.d.). https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/24_0920_k2p_genai-bulletin.pdf
Brewster, T. (2022, August 25). “Sextortion tricked 30 boys into sharing photos, FBI says, one took his own life.” Retrieved from Forbes, accessed on 8 October 2023.
Finkelhor, D. (2019, September 29). The aftermath of sextortion. National Children’s Alliance. https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/the-aftermath-of-sextortion/
Generative AI CSAM is CSAM. (2024, March 11). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. July 7, 2024, https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2024/generative-ai-csam-is-csam
Kang, C. (2024, April 22). A.i.-generated child sexual abuse material may overwhelm tip line. New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/technology/ai-csam-cybertipline.html.
Lonas, L. (2024, June 6). From deepfake nudes to incriminating audio, school bullying is going ai. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4703396-deepfake-nudes-school-bullying-ai-cyberbullying/#:~:text=Educators%20are%20watching%20in%20horror,the%20law%20and%20school%20policies.
Milmo, D. (2024, April 22). Paedophiles create nude AI images of children to extort from them, says charity. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/23/paedophiles-create-nude-ai-images-of-children-to-extort-them-says-charity
Online harms: Sextortion. Cybertip.ca. (n.d.). https://cybertip.ca/en/online-harms/sextortion
Sextortion. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). https://www.missingkids.org/sextortion