8/10/2026
I was deeply disturbed when I read a Guardian article on August 8, 2026, reporting a sharp increase in the number of UK children reporting sexually explicit deepfake images made to appear as though they depict them.
The Report Remove service received 420 such reports in the first six months of 2026—already more than the 397 reports it received during all of 2025. The majority of manipulated-image reports in 2025 and 2026 reportedly met the threshold for child sexual abuse material.
A few points are worth highlighting.
First, an ordinary photograph of a child can potentially be manipulated by AI into sexually explicit material. The original photograph does not have to be sexual.
Second, some victims have subsequently been subjected to sextortion, with perpetrators threatening to distribute the fabricated images unless the victim pays money or provides additional images.
Third, the problem is not limited to children who deliberately post revealing photographs. The article reports cases in which criminals scraped ordinary school or social-media photographs and used AI to transform them into explicit images.
Fourth, the UK has already criminalized AI-generated child sexual abuse material, as well as the distribution of models adapted to produce it. Yet the rapid development of generative AI is creating new challenges for law enforcement and online platforms.
Fifth, this technology dramatically lowers the barrier to certain forms of crime and exploitation. A criminal no longer needs access to a victim, a compromising photograph, or even a photograph that was originally intended to be private. An innocent image posted online may be enough raw material.
The Internet Watch Foundation and the UK National Crime Agency are now advising parents and schools to reduce the public availability of identifiable photos of children.
The most disturbing implication is that the traditional advice—don't post inappropriate pictures of your child online—is no longer sufficient. The photo itself does not have to be inappropriate. The danger may lie in what someone else can do with it.
This creates a new responsibility for today's parents. Every time we share a child's photograph, we should consider not only who can see it today, but also what technology may allow someone to do with it tomorrow.
For generations, parents have tried to protect their children from dangers they could see: strangers, unsafe places, harmful substances, or inappropriate people. Parents should be keenly aware that the digital world has introduced a different kind of danger—one that can begin with something completely innocent and happen entirely out of sight.
And to parents everywhere: don't assume that because these cases were reported in the UK, this is a British problem. It is a global problem. The technology behind these abuses does not stop at national borders, and neither do the images once they are uploaded to the internet. What is happening to children in the UK today could happen to a child anywhere in the world tomorrow—or may already be happening without being reported.
That is why this is not simply a story about British children or British law. It is a warning to parents everywhere about the new risks created by AI.
It may be an innocent act when we take and share a beautiful picture of a child. In the age of AI, we also have to think about what it could become after we share it.
