This image is AI-generated. It's innocent, but there are others police are very worried about

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate child abuse material, which is a growing concern for law enforcement agencies. It highlights a recent case in Tasmania where a man was jailed for two years for uploading and downloading AI-generated child abuse material, which is believed to be the first case of its kind in the state. The article also explores the challenges faced by law enforcement in identifying whether the images are real or AI-generated, and the potential for AI to be used to help combat this issue.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Artificial Intelligence and Child Abuse Material

1. What are the concerns around the use of AI to generate child abuse material?

• AI is being used to generate child exploitation material, which is a growing concern for law enforcement agencies
• The tools to create and modify these images using AI are becoming more sophisticated and accessible, allowing people to generate such material in minutes
• Law enforcement is worried that the increasing use of AI to generate this material will lead to a rise in its spread online

2. How are law enforcement agencies responding to this issue?

• Police are hopeful of developing their own AI tools to help eliminate child abuse material
• The Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has received a growing number of reports of child sexual exploitation, including AI-generated material
• Specialist victim identification teams are working to identify the victims in photos, which has become more difficult with the rise of AI-generated images

3. What are the legal implications of AI-generated child abuse material?

• People can be charged with child abuse material offences, regardless of whether an image of a child is of a real child or not
• The Criminal Code defines child exploitation material to include animations, cartoons, fantasy, and even text-based material related to child abuse

[02] Blackmail and Negative Impacts

1. How are abusers using AI to blackmail young people?

• There are apps that can modify an innocuous photo from a social media site to make the person appear nude
• Abusers then use this modified image as a threat to try and get real sexual imagery from children
• This has had extremely negative impacts, including resulting in a small number of young people taking their own lives

2. What are the broader negative impacts of AI-generated child abuse material?

• The ability to produce this type of content in seconds is "absolutely shocking" and gives abusers the ability to abuse at a scale and in a way where grooming conversations can be tailored to a child's specific tastes and needs
• The presence of this material in the community sends a "terrible, terrible message to children and young people about how we value them" and is "completely unacceptable"