{"id":5786,"date":"2026-06-24T12:28:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childx.se\/?post_type=news&p=5786"},"modified":"2026-07-02T09:04:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:04:05","slug":"national-appeal-regions-must-prioritize-children-subjected-to-sexual-exploitation-for-compensation-2","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/childx.se\/en\/news\/national-appeal-regions-must-prioritize-children-subjected-to-sexual-exploitation-for-compensation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW REPORT: Children Warn About AI \u2013 Adults Are Failing to Keep Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW REPORT: Children Warn About AI \u2013 Adults Are Failing to Keep Up<\/h1>\n
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Artificial intelligence is already being used to create sexually abusive images of children, automate online grooming, and spread child sexual abuse material. The same technology also has the potential to help identify children at risk, detect offenders, and stop the spread of abuse. In a new report, World Childhood Foundation and ChildX highlight a growing accountability gap: while AI is advancing rapidly, legislation, platforms, and public authorities are struggling to keep pace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sweden’s Minister for Justice, Gunnar Str\u00f6mmer<\/strong>, says Sweden can do more at the national level to ensure the rapid removal of child sexual abuse material from online platforms, including AI-generated or manipulated content. He compares this to the government’s ongoing efforts to empower authorities to require platforms to remove gang recruitment material targeting young people.<\/p>\n

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“I believe we can do more nationally to enable the police to order platforms to remove this material as soon as it is identified. This should happen within one hour, and platforms that fail to comply should face substantial sanctions,” says Gunnar Str\u00f6mmer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The report, “The technology is cool, but you can tell that the people in charge can’t keep up,”<\/strong> is based on a literature review, expert interviews, and focus groups with children and young people. It shows how AI is already reshaping the landscape for both offenders and those working to protect children.<\/p>\n

Offenders are using AI to create manipulated nude images, generate new child sexual abuse material, tailor grooming tactics to individual children, and use fake identities or relationships to gain children’s trust. At the same time, AI is already being used to detect known child sexual abuse material, identify risk behaviours, analyse large datasets, and reduce the psychological burden on professionals who review abusive content.<\/p>\n

The children participating in the report’s focus groups describe the growing disconnect between their digital reality and adults’ ability to protect them:<\/p>\n

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“The technology is cool, but you can tell that the people in charge can’t keep up.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They also describe how manipulated and sexually abusive images have already become part of everyday life online:<\/p>\n

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“People aren’t even shocked by it anymore. They’ve gotten used to it. They’ve gotten used to someone spreading fake images of another person.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

World Childhood Foundation and ChildX argue that Sweden must take greater responsibility to ensure child protection evolves at the same pace as technology.<\/p>\n

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“AI is already part of children’s everyday lives. That means children’s right to protection must be built into legislation, technology, and digital platforms from the very beginning. We cannot allow offenders to move faster than society’s protection systems,” says Britta Holmberg<\/strong>, Vice Secretary General and Global Director of Programmes and Advocacy at World Childhood Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The report identifies three priority areas for action:<\/p>\n