The AI child exploitation crisis is here
The AI child exploitation crisis is here
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/ai-child-exploitation-crisis-rcna259409
Publish Date: 2026-02-28 07:00:00
Source Domain: www.nbcnews.com
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever for bad actors to create child sexual abuse material, leaving prosecutors and lawmakers struggling to keep up.
Despite efforts by tech companies, law enforcement and activists, offenders consistently exploit system loopholes, open-source AI models and ready-made sexual exploitation platforms to generate imagery of both identifiable and nonexistent children, according to experts and law enforcement officials who spoke with NBC News.
Between January and September of 2025, NCMEC’s CyberTipline — the official online sexual exploitation tip line in the U.S. — received over a million reports related to generative AI, according to Fallon McNulty, the executive director of the center’s exploited children division.
“We often see bad actors at the forefront of leaning into those types of advancements in order to sexually exploit children online,” McNulty said. “The almost indistinguishable nature of the content that is being generated makes it extremely difficult for victim identification efforts.”
Law enforcement officials have found that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) created with generative AI can take on many forms. Sometimes people photograph children in public settings or use already-public photographs, and then use AI systems to turn them into CSAM. Other times, people create entirely new sexually explicit material that involves no real child or recognizable face and is completely AI-generated.
The material is becoming more realistic and harder to differentiate from real images, posing new issues for prosecutors and law enforcement.
Michael Prado, the deputy assistant director of Homeland Security Investigations’ Cyber Crimes Center (C3), said that in the first six months of 2025 alone, reports of child exploitation and generative AI increased by over 600% compared to 2023 and 2024 combined.
“What has, quite frankly, taken us by surprise is how rapidly it has spread,”…
