A 27-year-old man from Bolton was sentenced on 12 August 2024 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple offences including making and distributing indecent images of children using artificial intelligence, sexual communication with a child, and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. The case, prosecuted by Greater Manchester Police, marks one of the first convictions in the United Kingdom explicitly addressing AI-generated child sexual abuse material and followed an investigation that uncovered thousands of synthetic images on the defendant's devices.
Prosecution after arrest addresses the offence retrospectively but does not prevent the creation, exchange or use of AI-generated material to groom and coerce victims in real time. Guardii's anti-CSAM detection module identifies both photographic and AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery in direct-message streams across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, blocking transmission at the point of contact and alerting parents, safeguarding leads or law enforcement to the attempt. The anti-grooming module surfaces coercive conversation patterns and sexual solicitation in real time, enabling intervention before a child is manipulated into producing self-generated material or meeting an offender offline.
