IWF CEO Kerry Smith calls for complete EU ban of AI abuse content at high-level meeting of global experts in Rome
The IWF welcomes the EU political agreement on the recast Child Sexual Abuse Directive, closing critical gaps around AI-generated abuse material.
IWF confirms it has begun to see AI-generated imagery of child sexual abuse being shared online, with some examples being so realistic they would be indistinguishable from real imagery.
This episode explores what needs to be done to try and control the explosion in harmful AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery.
At Labour Party Conference 2026, the IWF hosted a panel with Online Safety Minister Ian Murray MP, Jess Phillips MP, Catherine Reader of FlippGen and IWF Chief Executive Kerry Smith. The discussion covered record levels of child sexual abuse material, the Government’s proposed feature-based restrictions on social media for under-16s, the risk of harm being displaced into encrypted spaces, and the need for faster Ofcom enforcement. Panellists agreed that no single measure is enough, and that safety must be built into technology, including AI, from the start.
AI-Generated Child Abuse Sexual Imagery Threatens to “Overwhelm” Internet
By Susie Hargreaves OBE, IWF CEO.
The capacity for horrific images of AI-generated child sexual abuse to be reproduced at scale was underlined by IWF in the lead-up to the UK government’s AI Safety Summit.
A new report from the IWF shows how the pace of AI development has not slowed as offenders are using better, faster and more accessible tools to generate new criminal images and videos.
A chilling excerpt from a new IWF report that delves into what analysts at the child protection charity currently see regarding synthetic or AI-generated imagery of child sexual abuse.