Child sex abusers are leveraging AI technology to create and distribute child sexual abuse material, according to a BBC report.
Those who want to view the images are subscribing to accounts on popular content-sharing sites like Patreon in order to gain access.
Patreon declared that it had no patience for images of this type being present on its website.
The National Police Chief's Council declared it "outrageous" that certain platforms were raking in "huge profits" while shirking "moral responsibility".
The creators of the abusive pictures are utilizing AI software, Stable Diffusion, originally intended for producing visuals for artistic or graphic design.
Computers, through the use of AI, are able to carry out assignments that usually need human intelligence.
Stable Diffusion gives users the capability to express, with the use of text prompts, any image they wish - and the programme subsequently brings the image to life.
The BBC has discovered that it is being utilized to generate realistic depictions of child sexual abuse, including of the rape of infants and toddlers.
UK police teams responsible for investigating online child abuse report that they have already encountered content of this nature.
For many months, Octavia Sheepshanks - a freelancer working as a researcher and journalist - has looked into this issue. In order to bring her investigations to public attention, she reached out to the BBC through the NSPCC, a children's charity.
Since AI-generated images became available, there has been a massive surge… it's not only young girls, but also paedophiles who are talking about toddlers," she stated.
A computer-generated imitation of child sexual abuse is considered to be as serious as a real image, and it is unlawful to possess, publish, or distribute it in the UK.
Ian Critchley, the NPCC's lead on child safeguarding, emphasized that claiming nobody is hurt because the images of minors used are 'synthetic' is incorrect.
He cautioned that someone who is a paedophile may progress from having the thought of committing the offence to engaging in activities like viewing synthetic child abuse material to actually abusing a real child.
The dissemination of abusive images is taking place through a three-step procedure.
Pixiv, a widely used social media platform in Japan mainly utilized by manga and anime artists, is the site of choice for many who create images.
Despite being hosted in Japan, where the sharing of sexualised cartoons and drawings of minors isn't prohibited, the site's creators take advantage of it to advertise their work through groups and hashtags, words or phrases used to categorise topics.
A spokesman for Pixiv stated the organization's great importance on tackling this issue. On May 31st, it announced it had abandoned all photorealistic representations of sexual encounters with minors.
The company declared that it had taken preventative measures to bolster its monitoring systems, and was devoting substantial resources to deal with issues associated with AI advancements.
Ms Sheepshanks informed the BBC that her studies indicated that users appeared to be fabricating child abuse pictures in a large-scale manner.
She commented that the amount of photographs they had to produce was vast, thus, their goal was to create 1,000 images in a single month.
Users' remarks on single pictures posted on Pixiv demonstrate an unmistakable sexual attraction to minors, with certain users even offering to give images and videos of maltreatment that had not been created with the help of AI.
Ms Sheepshanks has been keeping an eye on a few of the groups on the platform.
In those 100-person groups, people will be exchanging information such as, "Here's a link to authentic content," she states.
"I was completely unaware that such unfavorable terms ever existed."
In many of the Pixiv accounts, users have placed links in their biographies that lead to their "uncensored content" on the US-based content sharing site Patreon.
Patreon's worth is assessed to be around $4bn (£3.1bn) with a reported figure of over 250,000 creators - the vast majority of whom have genuine profiles belonging to renowned personalities like celebs, reporters and authors.
Supporters of creators can pay a minimal amount of $3.85 (£3) each month in order to gain access to blogs, videos, podcasts and images.
However, upon a thorough investigation, we discovered Patreon accounts that offered AI-produced, realistic pictures of indecent material involving minors, varying in cost based on the desired content.
On his account, one proclaimed: "I instruct my girls on my computer," and stated that they demonstrate "deference". For $8.30 (£6.50) every month, another user presented "unique uncensored art".
The BBC provided Patreon with a sample, which they determined was "somewhat authentic and in contravention of our regulations". As a consequence, the account was immediately taken down.
Patreon declared that it had an absolute "no tolerance" policy, emphasizing: "Creators cannot supply funds to any content related to sexual topics that involve minors."
The company noted that the existence of AI-generated damaging material on the internet is "truly alarming" and reported having "identified and eliminated escalating amounts" of this content.
The organisation stated that they have already taken measures to forbid AI-manufactured synthetic child abuse material, expressing that they are “very active” in their effort with committed teams, technology, and joint ventures to make sure teenagers are secured.
Stability AI, a UK-based company, spearheaded a collaborative effort between academics and various companies in the development of the AI image generator Stable Diffusion.
Different iterations of the code have been launched, containing regulations that dictate what kind of content can be produced.
However, a public open source version was put out a year ago that enabled people to eliminate any filters and instruct it to create any image - including illegal ones.
Stability AI informed the BBC it "forbids any application for illegal or immoral intentions through our platforms, and our regulations make evident that this includes CSAM (child sexual abuse material).
We strongly endorse the efforts of law enforcement to take action against those who make use of our products for illegal or immoral activities.
There has been growing concern, in light of AI's rapid progress, regarding the potential risks it could have on people's privacy, human rights, or safety.
NPCC's Ian Critchley expressed worries that the enormous quantity of real-looking AI-generated or "synthetic" pictures could impede the identification of genuine victims of abuse.
He states: "This produces a heightened need for police and legal action, to recognize where an authentic youngster is being mistreated, no matter where it is located in the globe, instead of a computer-generated or synthetic child."
Mr Critchley asserted that it was a significant moment for society.
He mentioned that the internet and tech had the potential to either provide amazing prospects for youth or become a dangerous space.
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