DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Technology giants must stop trade in abuse

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

Published: | Updated:

If harnessed properly, the potential for artificial intelligence to transform our lives for the better is almost limitless.

With its promised revolutions in science and industry, AI offers enormous opportunities for mankind – from combating air pollution to finding a cure for cancer.

But there is another, darker side to the coin. AI is speeding ahead so quickly that safety is being lost in the slipstream.

Child sexual exploitation is one of the most pernicious evils known to humanity.

Paedophiles and pornographers have now seized upon AI as a way of peddling their filth. They are misusing the software to create computer-generated, but horrifyingly realistic, images and videos of children being sadistically abused – what is known as ‘deepfake’ pornography.

With its promised revolutions in science and industry, AI offers enormous opportunities for mankind – from combating air pollution to finding a cure for cancer. But there is another, darker side to the coin (stock image)

With its promised revolutions in science and industry, AI offers enormous opportunities for mankind – from combating air pollution to finding a cure for cancer. But there is another, darker side to the coin (stock image)

Paedophiles and pornographers have now seized upon AI as a way of peddling their filth (stock image)

Paedophiles and pornographers have now seized upon AI as a way of peddling their filth (stock image)

Predators are harvesting photos of boys and girls from social media accounts belonging to their family, friends or schools.

In some cases, smartphone apps are used to ‘nudify’ the victim. In others, a youngster’s face is seamlessly blended with existing footage of children being raped.

There has not only been a disturbing rise in AI-generated child abuse images.

Worse, these paedophiles have been able to market their grotesque material on Instagram. Because Meta, which owns the platform, receives revenue from adverts placed alongside content – including that uploaded by the perverts – it stands accused of profiting from abuse of children.

Baroness Kidron, of the 5Rights Foundation children’s charity, says that by turning a blind eye, the tech giant is ‘complicit’ in this trade in misery. Now she has launched a landmark legal bid to force Meta to act.

The last Tory government made it a crime to download, share or create sexually explicit images using AI tools.

But regulation still lags behind the technology that enables this offence.

Social media companies must take responsibility. Surely it is in their power to stop these explicit images circulating. The question is, how badly do they want to?

 

Democratic mess

In the end, it had become inevitable that Joe Biden would have to withdraw his candidacy for re-election as US President.

In the end, it had become inevitable that Joe Biden would have to withdraw his candidacy for re-election as US President

In the end, it had become inevitable that Joe Biden would have to withdraw his candidacy for re-election as US President

He had been under pressure from fellow Democrats to quit since his car-crash debate against Donald Trump. The polls showed him being trounced at the ballot box.

But if Mr Biden wanted to act ‘in the best interest of the country’, as he said, shouldn’t he have stepped down earlier? The decline of his mental faculties has been obvious since before he won the White House.

Any questions about Mr Biden’s fitness for the job were dismissed as Republican smears. Now deeply unpopular vice-president Kamala Harris may run instead.

By failing to be honest about Mr Biden’s cognitive deterioration, the Democrats have created the mess they are now in.

 

Holding back Kyiv

Britain should be proud that it has led the world in supplying weapons to Ukraine in order to repel Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

But by refusing president Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to fire Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, Sir Keir Starmer is impeding Kyiv’s ability to defend itself.

It’s absurd Ukraine is not permitted to strike the weapons factories, ammunition depots and drone bases far from the frontline that Moscow is using for attacks.

If Labour sincerely wants the Ukrainians to win, why is it making them fight with one arm tied behind their backs?

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