AI child sexual abuse material to be criminalised under new EU laws, says Irish MEP
NEW LEGISLATION FROM the European Union will criminalise AI-generated child sexual abuse material and remove a statute of limitation on child abuse crimes across Europe, MEP Maria Walsh has said.
Walsh is a member of the European Parliament's committee responsible for the revision of the Combating Child Sexual Abuse Directive. The revised directive is due to be voted on in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
The proposed legislation will criminalise child sexual abuse material that has been generated by artificial intelligence – including the development, possession, and distribution of AI systems used to produce the content.
The issue of AI being used for nefarious means has become increasingly prevalent as AI systems grow rapidly more sophisticated.
Last month,
The Journal
reported that the Children's Ombudsman
said he is 'hugely concerned' about the potential of AI apps
that can be used by anyone to create sexually explicit images of children.
Dr Niall Muldoon warned that stronger laws were needed to tackle the scourge of so-called 'nudification' apps, which allow real photos of women and girls to be edited by artificial intelligence to produce deepfake images that make them appear naked.
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In February,
The Guardian
reported that the UK was to be the first country to introduce tough new laws to tackle the technology behind the creation of such material.
Today, Walsh said that once the vote has passed the legislation, it will result in the criminalisation of AI child sexual abuse material 'for the first time'.
She said that the use of AI to sexually abuse children results in the victimisation of real children, including survivors of previous sexual abuse.
'The new laws will also remove the statute of limitation on child sexual abuse crimes in all EU countries,' she said.
'Shockingly, the average age of disclosure of an experience of child sexual abuse is 52 years old. In other words, child sexual abuse is a life sentence. On top of this, a third of abused children never disclose their experience at all.'
She said that Ireland has a 'long and shameful history' of 'mistreating' young people and vulnerable members of society, but that the problem of AI child sexual abuse material extends further and across the European Union.
'Child abusers should never be allowed to hide and escape from accountability for their actions. A life sentence for victims must mean a lifelong possibility of justice,' she said.
If you have been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, you can reach out for support through the following helplines:
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre
- 1800 77 8888 (fre, 24-hour helpline)
Samaritans
- 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org (suicide, crisis support)
Pieta
- 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444 – (suicide, self-harm)
Teenline
- 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
Childline
- 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)
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