The National Crime Agency says the misuse of children’s images by AI tools is increasing and advises families to review privacy settings and think carefully before sharing photos online.
AI Abuse has prompted the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to urge parents to limit the public sharing of their children’s photos online amid growing concerns over AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
The warning forms part of a joint campaign with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which says criminals increasingly misuse publicly available images to create illegal AI-generated content.
According to the IWF, analysts identified more than 8,000 AI-generated images and videos depicting realistic child sexual abuse in 2025, marking a 14% increase from the previous year.
Moreover, the number of AI-generated child sexual abuse videos rose sharply from 13 in 2024 to 3,440 in 2025.
Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA, said preventing abuse remains as important as pursuing offenders.
Guidance for parents
The agencies have issued updated advice to help parents reduce online risks.
First, they recommend reviewing privacy settings on social media accounts and limiting who can view shared content.
They also advise parents to check existing posts and remove images that reveal identifiable details, such as school uniforms or children’s faces.
In addition, the guidance encourages families to review image-sharing permissions with relatives, schools and community organisations.
Parents should also involve children in discussions about how their images are shared and explain when they have the right to refuse.
AI raises new concerns
The UK government has introduced measures to tackle AI-enabled abuse.
These include banning so-called “nudification” apps and strengthening rules designed to stop AI systems from generating illegal content.
Meanwhile, the IWF urged parents to make informed decisions before posting children’s photos online.
The organisation stressed that the risks are real and not merely hypothetical.
Experts also warned that the rise of AI has intensified long-standing concerns about “sharenting,” which can expose children to privacy, identity theft and fraud risks later in life.
