AI-powered image and video generation tools are becoming increasingly widespread and
powerful, marking an escalation of the risks children face through digital technology. While the
proportion of children subjected to this form of abuse is still comparatively low, it signals a pressing
and likely escalating challenge. Offenders are now able to produce highly realistic sexual images of
children without the child’s participation or knowledge. As a result, a child’s right to protection can
be violated even if they have never shared content, interacted with the perpetrator, or are aware
that the abuse has occurred.
The harms caused by fabricated images extend well beyond the digital environment. Even though
these images are not real, the consequences can be just as severe. Interviews with children
collected under the Disrupting Harm project illustrate the shame, stigma and social or moral
judgment that children face when such content is shared online. Such material can also normalize
the sexualization of children and reinforce demand for exploitative content. It also makes victim
identification more difficult by obscuring whether an image portrays a real child in immediate
need of protection. This places additional strain on already limited law enforcement resources and
potentially delays interventions.
Through Children’s Eyes
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