Watch your kids: ‘New species’ of sex predators use AI

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino parents must tighten their watch over the public exposure of pictures or videos of their children, which could be used by “unscrupulous people” who peddle child pornography or sexual abuse, the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) said on Thursday.

Undersecretary Angelo Tapales raised the alarm over a possible worsening of child exploitation with the proliferation of images of children that are altered using artificial intelligence (AI).

“There are unscrupulous people who do not have access to children but have the technical knowledge, and the money to buy hardware and software [that] can already create an unlimited number of [AI-generated] pictures and sell these over the dark web,” he said. “So, it’s really alarming.”

Alarming numbers abroad

He said the CWC had “stumbled upon a new species of potential violators, which is why we are keeping a close watch.”

Tapales said that while reports on the use of AI for child exploitation are growing in other countries, the Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC) of the Philippine National Police has yet to receive a report of such cases in the country.

In the United States, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children disclosed having received 4,700 reports of AI-generated online content that depicted child sexual exploitation.

In a report in October 2023, UK-based Internet Watch Foundation said it had uncovered thousands of AI-generated images of fake children shown in exploitative poses as well as fully clothed real teens transformed into nudes.

Available for free

According to Tapales, AI tools to alter images are available online for free or for sale.

Using AI software, cybercriminals can digitally superimpose photos of children stolen or obtained online to create new images that show nudity or other child sexual abuse and exploitation (OSAEC) activities.

These are then sold or traded online through the “dark web,” or the internet underworld, Tapales said.

“Authorities worry that the realism is really incredible; they are able to create photorealistic images, which is really alarming,” he said in the government television program “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.”

He lamented that in the Philippines, online sexual abuse cases usually involve the child’s parents or someone close who see an opportunity to make money.

“There is a wrong mentality that children should contribute to the income of the family—that’s why they believe that it is okay to take a picture of the child, have a video taken, and sell it online,” he said.

Education campaign

Tapales said the CWC had embarked on a massive campaign to educate parents and their children on safe online behavior, such as identifying harmful content online.

“Of course, parents need to talk to their children and spend time with them. The family should be involved, including a mechanism by which family members [can] report such cases,” he said.

The CWC chief is worried that the emergence of the new threat of online sexual abuse and exploitation using AI would aggravate violence against women and children cases in the country.

912,000 sites blocked

Tapales said one telecommunications company, which he did not identify, reported having blocked 902,000 sites with indecent content and stopped a total of 2.16 million attempts to access them.

“That figure is just from one telecom company; so it’s really alarming,” he said.

According to Tapales, the PNP-WCPC recorded a total of 17,681 violence against children cases in 2023, which include cases of child abuse, rape and acts of lasciviousness. About 1,000 involved OSAEC cases, with more than 300 of them brought to court, he said.

BI initiative

“So this is also a cause for serious alarm because, in 2022, we noted the same child rights violations in the top three, comprising 95 to 97 percent of the total cases,” he said.

The CWC is a member of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking led by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), which is targeting foreigners involved in the sex trafficking of children.

The BI launched earlier this week a new campaign against foreign sexual predators victimizing children.

Its Project #Shieldkids aims to establish a working communication network among 25 government agencies, including the departments of justice and social welfare, involved in investigating and apprehending pedophiles and traffickers.

The immigration bureau had also set up a helpline at facebook.com/immigration.helpline.ph and telephone No. +632 8465 2400, where the public could report cases of child exploitation and abuse that involved foreigners.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the initiative, designed for a more focused approach to child exploitation, followed the observed rise in the number of registered sex offenders trying to enter the country.

It’s real, it’s here

“The threat against our children is real and is here. With the reopening of the country’s borders postpandemic comes the rise of attempts of sexual predators to enter the country,” said Tansingco.

In 2023, the BI excluded 171 aliens who were previously convicted of sex crimes or wanted for such cases, up from 102 in the previous year.

The bureau apprehended several alleged pedophiles, among them Frenchman Theddy Douglas Tissier in Makati last December, and Australian octogenarian David John Buckley in Cebu last November.