Missing AI Dangers?

Marking ‘days’ has turned into an industry in its own right. Who knew that 21st February is International Mother Language Day, or that the following week is Empathy Week?

Safer Internet Day is different from many of the others because it really does matter. The harm experienced by adults, children and families as a consequence of the early internet ‘no intervention’ libertarianism is gradually unfolding. And it’s pretty ugly.

The NSPCC in 2023 reported police data showing that online sexual crimes against children had increased from just over 3,700 in 2012 to more than 42,500 by 2022. Six in ten adult internet users report having potentially harmful experiences online, but among children aged 12 to 15 this increases to a massive 80%[1].

Talk of the AI threat has long been speculation that The Terminator could destroy humanity but short on the immediate harms already being done. An open search online for ‘AI nudify’ produces hundreds of news stories about paedophiles using AI to ‘de-age’ celebrities and ‘nudify’ fully clothed children. Disturbingly, such a search will also present the viewer with hundreds of platforms where the user can upload their own images of unsuspecting victims to give them the paedo treatment.

To mark Safer Internet Day the charity CARE commissioned Whitestone Insight to ask the British public whether there should be specific government intervention to ban websites and apps that use AI to simulate sexually explicit content such as undressing women and children. The public are clear – eight in ten support such a ban (rising to 85% of parents) while just 5% oppose, a ratio of 15 to 1. Support is broadly the same across all demographic groups.

As the 2024 (or 2025?) General Election approaches, which party will grasp this issue and incorporate a ban on such sites into its manifesto?

[1] About the Online Safety Data Initiative - Online Safety Data Initiative (blog.gov.uk)

Andrew Hawkins
Founder and CEO