This report by Qoria found that 21% of UK schools surveyed report incidents of students as young as 8 years old sharing or requesting nude content online. Whilst highlighting the severity of the AI-CSAM problem, the report is intended as a vital resource for schools, outlining the steps to implement solutions that will help to mitigate the risk to children online.
The report highlights the increasing difficulty experienced by schools in detecting harmful behaviours involving AI and explicit content and raises concerns about AI being used by perpetrators to groom young people online. It also uncovers the troubling prevalence of explicit content shared among students on platforms like Snapchat and through text messages.
Artificial intelligence is amplifying risks associated with Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in UK schools with 91% of schools surveyed concerned about the potential for adult perpetrators to leverage AI for grooming children.For example, by using fake profile generators to simulate being a child or using nudification tools, AI-powered apps that can digitally remove clothing from images.
The urgency of the problem is echoed by recent data from the IWF, which identified 2023 as a record-breaking year for AI-generated child abuse material. According to the IWF, 20,254 AI-generated images were discovered within a single month on a dark web forum dedicated to CSAM in 2024.
37% of schools surveyed experience incidents of students sharing or requesting nude content at least once every four months, and 11% reported an incident every week. AI is expected to worsen this already prevalent issue.