Internet Watch Foundation finds more AI-generated CSAM in first half of 2026 than all of 2025

The Internet Watch Foundation assessed over 6,000 AI-generated images meeting the legal definition of child sexual abuse material between January and June 2026, a 40 percent increase over the 4,512 images identified in all of 2025. The IWF identified 3,443 AI-generated CSAM videos in 2025, up from just 13 the prior year, with 65 percent classified as Category A under UK law depicting the most severe forms of abuse. The IWF reported that analysts found photo-realistic material depicting children as young as two years old, and warned that the material is increasingly appearing on publicly accessible areas of the internet rather than confined to dark-web forums. The charity called on the EU to implement legislation enabling detection of both known and unseen abuse material, noting that current hash-matching technology can only identify existing content and is ineffective against newly generated AI material.

Detecting AI-generated CSAM in real time requires pattern-based detection that can intercept the distribution, manipulation and coercion underlying the creation and exchange of this material rather than relying solely on image-hash databases that identify only known files. Guardii, a world-leading AI online-safety platform and Meta Business Partner backed by Startmate, deploys real-time detection across direct-message channels on Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms to identify sustained targeting, escalation and coercion as it unfolds. The platform includes a dedicated anti-CSAM detection module that recognises the conversational signature of solicitation, production and distribution of child sexual abuse material including AI-generated and deepfake content, flagging hostile contact before it reaches the target and surfacing a child in crisis to a parent, school or professional, enabling rapid escalation to the appropriate authority in an emergency.