The Internet Watch Foundation said on October 5 that its analysts assessed 6,310 AI-generated images of child sexual abuse from January to June 2026. That is 40% more than the 4,512 it found in the whole of 2025. Girls appear in 98% of the images where age and gender were recorded.
New to this? Read it in simple words
- A UK charity counts illegal images of child abuse that people make with AI.
- In the first half of 2026, it found 6,310 such images.
- That is already 40% more than in the whole of 2025.
- The charity wants an EU law so platforms can find new images too.
- IWF
- The Internet Watch Foundation, a UK charity that finds and removes child abuse material online.
- Hash
- A digital fingerprint of an image, used to spot copies without looking at them.
- Regulation
- An EU law that applies directly in every member country.
The numbers
From January 1 to June 30, IWF analysts assessed 6,310 AI-generated images that meet the legal definition of child sexual abuse. In the whole of 2025, they found 4,512, so the first half of this year is already 40% higher.
The count is of images. The IWF gives no comparison with the first half of 2025, and no figure for AI videos this year.
Most of the images, 5,557 or 88%, fall into Category C, the least severe of the three legal categories. In 2025, that share was 62%. The IWF counted 350 images in Category A, the most severe.
AI-made images that meet the legal definition of child sexual abuse, as counted by the IWF.
Who is shown
Girls appear in 98% of the images where both age and gender were recorded. Children aged 7 to 13 appear in 79% of the images, up from 70% in 2025.
The IWF counted 2,534 images of children aged 7 to 10, and 2,369 of children aged 11 to 13. It found 1,004 images of children aged 3 to 6, and 190 of babies and toddlers under 2.
Children are also reporting more fake sexual images made from their own photos. The IWF’s Report Remove service has had 420 such reports in 2026 so far, against 397 in all of 2025, The Guardian reports.
What the IWF wants
The IWF turns confirmed images into digital fingerprints, called hashes, that platforms and police use to block copies. But hashes only catch images that are already known, and new AI images get through until analysts find them.
So the charity asks the EU to agree its long-delayed Child Sexual Abuse Regulation. It would give platforms legal certainty to look for both known and new material. “Europe cannot afford to delay,” said Kerry Smith, the IWF’s chief executive.
“It is incumbent on tech companies to build tools which cannot be abused this way,” Hannah Swirsky, the IWF’s head of policy, told The Guardian.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1Primary source · October 5, 2026More AI-generated child sexual abuse images found in the first six months of 2026 than all of 2025, IWF warns Internet Watch Foundation
- 2Research · October 5, 2026Rapid rise in AI-generated child abuse content, warns watchdog The Guardian, via Irish Examiner
- 3Research · October 5, 2026Internet Watch Foundation reports over 40% rise in AI-generated child sexual abuse content National Technology News
- 4Research · October 5, 2026AI-generated child sexual abuse images surge in 2026, UK study finds ThePrint
All counts are the IWF’s own, from its analysts’ work. The 40% compares the first half of 2026 with the whole of 2025, not with the same months last year.
A charity counted 6,310 illegal AI-made abuse images in six months, a real misuse that has already happened. How we rate the mood