Australia to force search engines to crack down on AI-created images of child sexual abuse

‘The use of generative AI has grown so quickly that I think it’s caught the whole world off guard to a certain degree’

File. (AP)

Australia has introduced new regulations that mandate that search engines take effective measures to combat child sexual abuse content generated by artificial intelligence.

Local media reported that the online safety code, announced on Friday, will require search engines like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo to take “appropriate steps” to prevent the proliferation of child sexual exploitation including “synthetic” images created by the artificial intelligence.

“As these tools become more democratised, predators could use this to create synthetic child sexual abuse material according to their predilections, or use anime – the sky is the limit. We need to know the companies are thinking about this and putting in appropriate guard rails,” Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said on Friday.

Last month it was reported that youngsters are using AI-generated “deepfake” explicit content to harass their peers, hence contributing to a surge of online abuse driven by artificial intelligence.

“I expect over the next year, we’ll have huge, huge increases in these kinds of reports [related to AI],” Ms Inman Grant said.

Australia’s eSafety is an independent government agency dedicated to stopping bullying and image-based abuse online.

On Friday, she said in a statement: “The use of generative AI has grown so quickly that I think it’s caught the whole world off guard to a certain degree.”

The announcement of new regulations follows the decision by the eSafety commissioner to postpone the rollout of a previous iteration of the code in June.

“When the biggest players in the industry announced they would integrate generative AI into their search functions we had a draft code that was clearly no longer fit for purpose and could not deliver the community protections we required and expected,” Ms Inman Grant said.

“We asked the industry to have another go at drafting the code to meet those expectations and I want to commend them for delivering a code that will protect the safety of all Australians who use their products.”

“The tech industry now needs its seatbelt moment,” she added.