Using Artificial Intelligence to Generate Child Sexual Exploitation Material: Challenges and Implications for Law and Justice

Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) is a global issue, poses a significant threat to children and is increasingly prevalent in the community. CSEM is offensive or abusive content, available in print or electronically, which depicts children. CSEM legislation in Australian states and territories criminalises behaviour dealing with CSEM including where an individual produces, disseminates or possesses the content. Whether the material depicts real children is irrelevant to its lawfulness; computer-generated content, known as virtual CSEM, is still inherently harmful as it can disguise the abuse of children, can act as a gateway to more serious offending and can aid child grooming. Artificial intelligence has expanded opportunities for offenders to produce virtual CSEM. Using artificial intelligence, offenders can increase their capacity to create CSEM; the nature of artificial intelligence generating CSEM means there could also be difficulties for law enforcement to hold offenders accountable. This paper will consider how the existing CSEM law interacts with offending using artificial intelligence. More specifically, it will identify whether existing legislation appropriately captures CSEM production involving artificial intelligence and the challenges that exist for the law to capture CSEM offending when artificial intelligence is involved. In so doing, it will identify challenges and policy implications for justice innovation.