“Uncensored” AI chatbots being used by pedophiles to generate child pornography and graphic sexual abuse fantasies. The FBI warns of a spike in internet predators using open-source AI tech to create “sexually-themed images that appear true-to-life.”
Now that tech giants are allowing amateur coders to rip out safeguards from their chatbots, thousands of AI-generated child abuse images are flooding dark web forums, and predators are even sharing “pedophile guides” to AI along with selling their pornographic material, according to a report by Daily Mail.
OpenAI logo seen on screen with ChatGPT website displayed on mobile seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on December 12, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
AI Chatbots, which have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, and are known for, in part, generating life-like images, are now being exploited by pedophiles seeking to create very realistic child porn.
This perverted endeavor has been made possible by tech firms that have decided to release their codes to the public, claiming that all they wanted to do was democratize the AI technology.
In February, Facebook (now known as Meta) which also owns Instagram, and WhatsApp, reportedly made its code public, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg claiming the move was “a positive force to advance technology.” After that, smaller tech companies followed suit.
Meanwhile, YouTubers with more than 100,000 subscribers have reportedly been posting tutorials explaining how to create “uncensored AI.”
The FBI is now warning that it has detected a spike in “malicious actors” using AI to transform images of children into “sexually-themed images that appear true-to-life.”
Thousands of AI child pornography images can now be found all over the dark web, a phenomenon that analysts have referred to as a “predatory arms race.”
Moreover, these deepfake child-sex abuse materials (CSAM) have nearly tripled over the last year on one forum, according to online security firm ActiveFence.
Members of the forum also openly ask for “tips on finding CP trained models” and the spread of such information has helped drive the spike in child porn-related content.
Child safety experts are warning that while the deepfakes of child porn may not show actual images of real children, it normalizes child abuse.
Breitbart News has previously reported on social media networks struggling to remove child pornography from their platforms, a task that will only get harder after a flood of AI-generated images hit their sites.
A recent report from the New York Times states that Twitter has been battling child sexual abuse content since Elon Musk stated in a tweet in November 2022 that “removing child exploitation is priority #1” Twitter’s head of safety, Ella Irwin, claims that she is quickly resolving the problem, which was widespread on the platform under its previous owners. Child sexual abuse material (CSAM), commonly known as child pornography, is still present on the platform, according to a recent investigation by the New York Times, and it includes widely disseminated content that authorities believe is simple to identify and remove.
The analysis reportedly reveals that Twitter has failed to stop the spread of abusive images previously identified by authorities since Musk took over in late October. Twitter has largely eliminated or lost staff with experience dealing with the issue and the company has also stopped paying for important detection software for its operations. According to transcripts from an anti-abuse organization that surveils viewers of child pornography, people have been talking about how Twitter is still a platform where they can easily find the material without being discovered.
Breitbart will continue to follow developments on this disturbing tech trend.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.