IWF: AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery a 'current and accelerating crisis'

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK child-protection watchdog, reported that in 2024 it processed 245 actionable reports containing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (equating to 7,644 images and a small number of videos), a 380% increase on the 51 such reports in 2023. The IWF assessed that the most convincing AI-generated material can be visually indistinguishable from real imagery even for trained analysts, that around 40% was the most severe Category A material, and that 98% of recorded victims were girls; it has separately warned of a steep rise in AI-generated CSAM videos in 2025. The findings are a policy-level signal that generative-image capability is being weaponised to produce illegal child-abuse content, and have informed legal responses in the UK, EU and US. This is a watchdog-reported trend rather than a single incident; no operational detail or material is included.