AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material Drives Surge in Exploitation Cases in North America
Police in Canada and North Dakota report a surge in child sexual exploitation cases involving AI-generated material. Generative AI systems are being used to create explicit images from photos of minors and to impersonate children, with national AI-related CSAM reports reaching 1.5 million in 2025, a 1,300% increase from the prior year.
What happened
AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is driving a surge in exploitation cases across North America. In North Dakota, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation received about 2,700 online tips in 2025 about CSAM, many involving AI-assisted exploitation. Nationally, more than 1.5 million AI-related child exploitation reports were made in 2025, a 1,300% increase over the previous year.
In Canada, police services in northern Ontario report that children are being exposed to more sophisticated forms of online abuse, including AI-generated explicit images created from innocent photos of minors. Offenders use AI to impersonate peers, classmates and trusted adults, facilitating sextortion and harassment. The number of police-reported child sexual exploitation incidents across Canada rose 374 per cent between 2014 and 2024, with Cybertip.ca receiving an average of six sextortion reports per day.
Reported impact
AI has made child exploitation faster, easier and more scalable while making it harder for law enforcement to detect and investigate, according to the North Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force commander. Investigators report receiving hundreds of online child exploitation-related files each year in Canada alone.
Police note that some cases involving AI-generated sexually explicit images result in little or no jail time, which they say undermines accountability, minimizes harm to victims and sends the wrong message to offenders.
Index analysis
The rapid increase in AI-related CSAM reports suggests that generative AI technology has been widely adopted by offenders as a tool for exploitation. The 1,300% year-over-year increase in AI-related reports indicates accelerating deployment and use of image generation systems for this purpose.
Governance controls
North Dakota lawmakers approved legislation making it a Class C felony to possess computer-generated images of child sexual abuse material, with enhanced penalties for more egregious cases. Social media companies based in the United States are legally required under U.S. federal law to report child exploitation-related activity to authorities, who route reports through the RCMP to appropriate Canadian police services.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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