The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) have issued a stark warning to parents: stop publicly sharing images of your children online due to the alarming rise in AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The joint guidance, released on Tuesday, marks a significant escalation in the ongoing battle against digital exploitation, as advances in artificial intelligence make it easier than ever to create convincing synthetic abuse imagery.
The IWF, a UK-based charity that identifies and removes child sexual abuse material from the internet, reported that it confirmed 8,029 AI-generated images and videos of child sexual abuse in 2025—a 14% increase from the previous year. Even more concerning is the explosive growth in AI-generated abuse videos: from just 13 confirmed cases in 2024 to 3,440 in 2025. This represents a 264-fold increase, underscoring how quickly the technology is evolving.
Under UK law, any such material—whether created by traditional photography or artificial intelligence—is treated as child sexual abuse material. Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA, stated: “While we and policing colleagues tackle offenders, prevention remains vital. Parents and guardians have a crucial role to play in reducing the risk by being more cautious about what they share online.”
The rise of AI-generated abuse imagery
The phenomenon of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery has grown in tandem with the proliferation of generative AI tools. These tools, often based on deep learning models trained on vast datasets of images, can manipulate existing photos of children—scraped from social media, school websites, or family photo albums—to produce explicit content. In some cases, offenders use so-called “nudification” apps that strip clothing from images, while more advanced systems generate entirely new synthetic images of children.
The IWF has previously documented a case where a criminal gang scraped students' photographs from a school website and used AI to create over 100 sexual images of the children. The gang then attempted to extort the children and their families by threatening to release the images. Such incidents highlight the real-world consequences of the digital footprints parents leave for their children.
The statistics reveal a heavily gendered dimension to this abuse. The IWF's 2024 data shows that 98% of confirmed AI abuse imagery where the sex of the child was recorded involved girls. This reflects broader patterns of online exploitation, where girls are disproportionately targeted for sexual abuse material. The UNICEF research further underscores the fear among children themselves: a quarter of children surveyed worry that their images could be turned into explicit deepfakes.
What the new guidance recommends
The joint NCA and IWF guidance urges parents to take immediate steps to protect their children. The key recommendations include: reviewing and tightening privacy settings on social media accounts to restrict posts to a “close friends” list; auditing older posts for identifying details such as a child's face, school uniform, or location; and revisiting consent given to schools, sports clubs, and other organizations that photograph children. Parents are also advised to consider whether sharing a child's image is necessary at all, particularly on public platforms.
The guidance also encourages parents to talk to their children about online safety, especially as they grow older and begin to manage their own digital presence. The NCA emphasizes that the aim is not to induce panic but to foster informed sharing—where images are shared only with trusted individuals, not with the entire internet.
From sharenting to synthetic abuse
The term “sharenting”—a portmanteau of “sharing” and “parenting”—entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2016, reflecting the widespread practice of parents posting photos and updates about their children on social media. For years, warnings about sharenting have focused on identity theft and privacy risks. However, the advent of AI tools that can convincingly manipulate photos has transformed an old concern into a much sharper threat.
In the past, a parent might post a photo of their child in a school uniform without thinking twice. Today, that same photo can be scraped, manipulated, and used to create abusive deepfakes. The NCA guidance notes that even seemingly harmless images—such as those from family holidays or birthday parties—can provide the raw material for AI-generated abuse. The scale of this problem is staggering: the IWF estimates that there are now thousands of new AI-generated abuse images and videos each year, and that number is likely to grow as AI tools become more accessible and sophisticated.
Regulatory responses in the UK and beyond
The UK government has moved to address the threat by introducing new laws and regulations. In 2025, the government banned so-called nudification apps—software that uses AI to digitally remove clothing from images. Campaigners, including the IWF, had long argued that these apps have no legitimate purpose and serve only to facilitate abuse. Additionally, the government adjusted the law to allow AI firms to test whether their systems can be abused to produce child sexual abuse material, as part of efforts to improve safety by design.
Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, is actively enforcing the Online Safety Act. The watchdog recently opened a child safety investigation into Telegram, following similar probes of X (formerly Twitter) and its AI chatbot Grok. The Online Safety Act, which came into force in 2024, places a duty on tech companies to protect children from harmful content, including AI-generated abuse material. Ministers are also considering an under-16 social media ban, though such a measure remains controversial.
Internationally, the issue has prompted similar actions. The European Union has been working on stronger tools against nonconsensual deepfake imagery, while Australia has introduced legislation requiring social media platforms to take down abusive deepfakes within 24 hours. In the United States, several states have passed laws criminalizing the creation and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material. However, enforcement remains challenging due to the cross-border nature of the internet and the rapid evolution of AI technology.
Historical context and ongoing challenges
The problem of AI-generated child sexual abuse material is not entirely new. Early forms of digital manipulation, such as Photoshop, were used to create fake images years ago, but the scale and realism of modern AI tools are unprecedented. The first high-profile case of AI-generated abuse imagery surfaced in 2023, when a Spanish town saw hundreds of young girls' photos turned into explicit deepfakes by classmates using a mobile app. Since then, the problem has spread globally, with law enforcement agencies struggling to keep pace.
One of the biggest challenges is the sheer volume of content. The IWF reports that it is identifying thousands of new AI-generated images each year, and the number is doubling annually. Unlike traditional images, which typically require a physical victim to be photographed, AI-generated images can be created entirely from scratch, making it harder to identify victims and prosecute offenders. Furthermore, the content can be easily shared on dark web forums and encrypted messaging apps, evading detection.
Technology companies are beginning to respond. Major AI platforms like OpenAI, Google, and Meta have implemented filters to prevent their tools from generating child sexual abuse material, but these filters are not foolproof. Researchers have shown that it is possible to bypass them using simple prompts or by fine-tuning open-source models. The UK government has called for greater cooperation between tech firms and law enforcement, and has invested in AI detection tools to help automate the identification of abuse content.
The psychological impact on victims is severe. Children whose images are used to create deepfakes often experience shame, anxiety, and trauma. In some cases, they are bullied or ostracized at school when the images become public. UNICEF has called for more support services for victims and their families, as well as better education for children about the risks of sharing images online.
The NCA and IWF guidance shifts some of the urgency to the family photo album. “These are not hypothetical threats, they are real,” said Kerry Smith, chief executive of the IWF. “The aim is informed sharing with trusted people, rather than no sharing at all.” The advice, in the end, is less about panic than about shrinking the pool of raw material that offenders can exploit. As AI continues to evolve, parents—and society as a whole—must adapt to protect the most vulnerable.