Artificial intelligence (AI) is often seen in the light of profitability. Many big companies nowadays have departments that investigate the opportunities AI could offer and try to create new profitable business models. However, less known opportunities of AI are not about making money, yet about making the world a bit better. A good example of this is the role of AI in the fight against online child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Online child sexual abuse is a worryisome problem causing serious damage to the emotional, cognitive and social development of innocent children. Six years ago, a computer generated avatar called “Sweetie” was designed by a Dutch children charity pretending to be a 10 years old Filipina girl. Sweetie was designed to catch online predators, which worked out well as many men contacted her and could be identified and caught through their Skype and social media profiles. However, we are not there yet. In order to prevent CSAM from becoming a multi-billion industry in the hands of criminals, as is the case with child pornography, further AI technology development is needed. The European Commission, together with Law Enforcement Agencies, NGOs and the internet industry, are currently working on developing the right technology.
As since the beginning of the corona pandemic people stay at home a lot more and life has shifted online, the problem of CSAM, together with the problem of domestic abuse, has increased. Therefore, developing the right technology to combat the problem is needed more than ever. Hope should be placed on the ones that think outside of the profitability box.
Sources:
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/exploring-potential-ai-fight-against-child-online-abuse
https://preventchildabuse.org/resource/preventing-child-sexual-abuse/
https://webfoundation.org/2020/07/theres-a-pandemic-of-online-violence-against-women-and-girls/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24818769
