"Explosive proportions"

How AI is exacerbating the child porn problem

Images like this generated by artificial intelligence pose new challenges for investigators.

(Bild: nsit0108 – stock.adobe.com, KI-generiert)

Until now, it has mainly helped with detection, but artificial intelligence is now increasingly becoming a perpetrator itself and therefore part of the problem: advances in the field of so-called image generators have led to an explosion in the number of disturbingly lifelike images showing the sexual abuse of children. This presents investigators with new challenges.

The Teichtmeister case recently threw a new spotlight on the well-known problem of child pornography on the internet in Austria. In 2023, 2245 (2022: 2061) crimes relating to "pictorial sexual child abuse material" were reported in Austria - according to official figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the number of cases of child abuse on the internet rose for the eighth year in a row and reached a new high. However, the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.