Protect Children contributes to new guidance on how AI systems respond to child sexual abuse disclosures
Children and young people are increasingly turning to AI systems to talk about things they have never told another person, including experiences of sexual abuse and exploitation. How those systems respond, and what the companies behind them do next, matters greatly to the person on the other end.
We are pleased to have contributed to a new guide from the Tech Coalition, which was jointly commissioned and funded by Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, setting out core principles for how AI systems should respond to disclosures with care. Our input came through expert consultation that informed the guidance.
The work was prompted by research from Adelaide University, supported by ICMEC Australia, which found that AI now features in more than one in four cases of image-based child sexual abuse, and that young people are increasingly turning to AI rather than to trusted adults or services when seeking help.
In our research, we are seeing how generative AI is reshaping child sexual abuse perpetration, as in our survey of over twenty thousand people searching for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, 35% reported viewing or creating AI-generated CSAM.
We welcome this guide as a strong foundation, and an important step toward making sure children and survivors are met with care when they reach out, wherever they choose to do so.
Responding to disclosures of child sexual exploitation and abuse through AI systems
Practical guidance for AI responses and company action
