UK to Enact Stricter Laws to Ensure Child Protection
The UK is set to introduce legislation targeting AI tools used to create sexual images of children, aiming to combat such crimes. The country will become the first in the world to make the creation, possession, or distribution of these AI tools a criminal offense, punishable by up to five years in prison.
On Saturday, the government announced that the creation, possession, or distribution of AI-generated sexual abuse images of children will be illegal. These tools manipulate real-life images of children by making them "naked" or by superimposing children's faces onto older images.
Additionally, possessing AI pedophile manuals, which can assist individuals in child sexual abuse, will be classified as a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, "This is a real, concerning issue. The creation of sexual abuse images of children online and the growing number of child predator websites are becoming even more dangerous due to AI."
With the use of AI tools, criminals are now easily able to create predatory mindsets towards children, manipulating images to negatively influence them, which encourages further criminal activities.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported that within just 30 days of 2024, 3,512 AI-generated images of child sexual abuse were identified on a single dark web site, marking a 10% increase compared to the previous year.
The UK government hopes this initiative will serve as an example for other countries.
