Child sexual exploitation is on the rise online and taking new forms such as images and videos generated by artificial intelligence, according to an annual assessment released on Tuesday by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a US-based clearinghouse for the reporting of child sexual abuse material. Reports to the NCMEC of child abuse online rose by more than 12% in 2023 compared with the previous year, surpassing 36.2m The majority of tips received were related to the circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) such as photos and videos, but there was also an increase in reports of financial sexual extortion, when an online predator lures a child into sending nude images or videos and then demands money. Some children and families were extorted for financial gain by predators using AI-made CSAM, according to the NCMEC. The center received 4,700 reports of images or videos of the sexual exploitation of children made by generative AI, a category it only started tracking in 2023, a spokesperson said.

When a video purporting to show New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern smoking drugs surfaced on social media in recent months, experts quickly dismissed it as a fake. The video, which was viewed and shared thousands of times, showed a woman smoking from what appeared to be a crack pipe. The PM's face had been superimposed using artificial intelligence. But the video, created for YouTube, was convincing enough to the many who shared it. It was the latest example of how disturbingly authentic-looking videos can blur the lines between reality and fantasy.

One photo of a child in a hotel room can often be the only clue to a trafficked child's whereabouts. An artificial intelligence is now helping investigators to identify these hotel rooms, leading to the rescue of a number of sexually exploited children. Globally, an estimated 4.8 million people have been forced into sexual exploitation. More than 1 million are under 18. In the US, exploited children often appear pictured in hotel rooms in online adverts.