AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery surges 380% in 2024
AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery reports surged 380% in the UK in 2024, according to the Internet Watch Foundation, with the quality and realism of such material improving significantly. The illegal content is increasingly appearing on the open internet rather than only the dark web, and the UK government introduced legislation to criminalize the possession, creation and distribution of AI tools designed to generate such material.
What happened
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported in its 2024 annual report that it received 245 reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery that broke UK law in 2024, an increase of 380% on the 51 seen in 2023, equating to 7,644 images and a small number of videos.
The IWF stated that in 2024, the quality of AI-generated videos improved exponentially, and all types of AI imagery assessed appeared significantly more realistic as the technology developed, with the most convincing material being indistinguishable from real images and videos, even for trained analysts.
The largest proportion of the AI-generated material was 'category A' material, the most extreme type of child sexual abuse content including penetrative sexual activity or sadism, accounting for 39% of the actionable AI material seen by the IWF.
Reported impact
The IWF said the AI-generated imagery is increasingly appearing on the open internet and not just on the dark web, making it more widely accessible.
The overall number of webpages hosting child sexual abuse imagery reached record levels in 2024, with 291,273 reports, an increase of 6% on 2023.
Index analysis
The advance in AI image generation technology and its misuse to create child sexual abuse material represents a significant escalation in the scale and sophistication of illegal content being produced and distributed.
The shift from dark web distribution to open internet platforms indicates that content moderation and detection capabilities have not kept pace with AI-generated imagery that can evade detection.
Governance controls
The UK government announced in February that it will become illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material, closing a legal loophole that had alarmed police and online safety campaigners.
The IWF announced it was making Image Intercept, a new safety tool, available to smaller websites for free to help them spot and prevent the spread of abuse material on their platforms, which can detect and block images in an IWF database containing 2.8 million digitally marked criminal images.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.