New Delhi: The number of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse in the first half of this year has already exceeded the total recorded in all of 2025, the Internet Watch Foundation reported.
The UK-based IWF, which monitors child sexual abuse material globally, assessed 6,310 AI-generated images between January 1 and June 30 this year. This was 40% more than the 4,512 images recorded during the whole of 2025.
Girls make up 98% of AI-generated imagery
Girls featured in 98 per cent of the AI-generated imagery where both age and gender were recorded. Of the 6,221 such images identified in the first half of 2026, 6,094 depicted girls, compared with 4,259 such images identified throughout 2025.
The IWF also found that 79 per cent of the images assessed in the first half of 2026 depicted children aged between seven and 13, up from 70 per cent across the whole of 2025.
The data also showed a rise in imagery depicting younger children. The IWF identified 190 images depicting infants and toddlers under the age of two, while 1,004 depicted children aged three to six.
While the latest IWF data focuses only on images, it comes amid a surge in AI-generated child sexual abuse videos. The IWF identified 3,440 such videos in 2025, compared with just 13 in 2024.
IWF calls for stricter regulation
Highlighting the need for comprehensive regulation, IWF Chief Executive Officer Kerry Smith said, “It is deeply concerning to see how quickly AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery continues to grow and spread online.”
“If Europe is serious about protecting children, it needs a comprehensive Child Sexual Abuse Regulation that gives platforms the legal certainty to detect, prevent and respond to known and unknown child sexual abuse content,” she added.
Hannah Swirsky, head of policy and public affairs at the IWF, also called for binding legislation on AI that compels companies to build safer models.
“It is incumbent on tech companies to build tools which cannot be abused this way,” she said.
The push for stricter regulation comes amid a rise in reports from children who say their images have been faked or manipulated to appear sexually explicit.
According to separate IWF data, 397 reports received in 2025 involved imagery that children believed had been faked. In the first six months of 2026, the figure rose to 420 reports.
UK moves to criminalise AI abuse models
A UK government spokesperson told The Guardian: “UK law is clear that child sexual abuse material is illegal, regardless of whether it is AI-generated or not.”
The government has also moved to ban AI models used to create child sexual abuse material and hyper-realistic imagery depicting abuse, according to the spokesperson.
In 2025, the UK introduced a criminal offence carrying a sentence of up to five years for developing an AI model designed to produce hyper-realistic child sexual abuse material.
The IWF and National Crime Agency have also urged parents and guardians to be cautious about posting pictures of children on social media, as offenders increasingly exploit publicly available images to create AI-generated sexual abuse material.
Edited by Maryam Hassan