ABC13 Investigates: AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Images Pose Growing Threat to Children

Reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material are rising rapidly, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which received more than 400,000 reports involving generative AI and child exploitation in 2025, though not every report was confirmed to involve AI-generated abuse after investigation. Virginia has made the creation or possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material a felony when the material involves the likeness of a real child, and Captain Stephen Anders of the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force confirmed that using an actual child's likeness to create sexually explicit material can constitute production of CSAM under the law. The growing use of generative AI in child exploitation is creating significant challenges for organisations that investigate online abuse, and questions remain about the responsibility of technology companies to prevent their tools from being misused.

Guardii's anti-CSAM detection module, which includes specialist capability for AI-generated and deepfake material, identifies both the distribution of abusive imagery and the upstream solicitation and coercion that precede it. The platform detects the demand pattern in real-time conversations, flagging attempts to procure imagery, coercive requests for self-generated content, and escalating pressure tactics before a child complies or an image is sent. Where legislative criminalisation enables prosecution after AI-generated material has been created or shared, targeted pattern detection intercepts the exploitation dynamic at the point of solicitation. A Meta Business Partner with detection deployed across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms, Guardii surfaces the child at acute risk to a parent or authority and blocks further hostile contact, addressing the harm before an image exists rather than relying on retrospective enforcement.