UNICEF Warns of 1.2 Million Children Affected by AI-Generated Sexual Exploitation

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported a troubling rise in the use of artificial intelligence to create sexual exploitation images of children, indicating that around 1.2 million minors have been affected in just one year.

The organization emphasized that these so-called deepfake technologies represent not only digital abuse but also constitute a real violation against children, potentially causing long-term psychological and social harm, even in the absence of direct physical abuse.

UNICEF has called for urgent legal and technical measures, including the strengthening of laws, accountability for involved parties, the development of tools to monitor and remove fake content, and enhanced international cooperation to protect children from these escalating digital threats.