At least 25 people have been arrested for distributing online content, including child pornography created by Artificial Intelligence, to Europol, in one of the first such operations.

“Operation Cumberland was one of the first cases involving child pornography content created by Artificial Intelligence, a fact that makes the work of investigating authorities particularly difficult due to the absence of national legislation regarding these crimes,” the European police service said in a statement.

How the case started

Most of the arrests were made on Wednesday in a global operation led by Danish police, which also involved the law enforcement forces of 18 other countries.

In November, the main suspect in the case was arrested. He was a Danish national who ran an online platform on which he distributed material produced using genetic Artificial Intelligence.

“After paying a token amount online, internet users from around the world could obtain a code to access the platform and watch children being sexually abused”, Europol noted.

“Child sexual exploitation remains one of the most threatening forms of electronic crime in the European Union, Europol stressed, adding that the issue is “one of the key priorities for law enforcement agencies, which have to deal with an ever-increasing volume of illegal content”. The investigation is ongoing and may lead to further arrests.

Artificially produced images

Europol director Catherine de Beaul said that “images are produced artificially with such ease that they can be produced by persons with criminal intent, even if they do not have deep technological knowledge.”

This “contributes to the growth of sexual abuse content against minors and, as the volume increases, it becomes increasingly difficult for investigative authorities to identify perpetrators or victims,” he said, adding that “law enforcement must devise new methods and new investigative tools to address these new challenges.”

Europe discusses common regulation

EU member states are currently discussing having a common regulation to deal with the situation. The use of AI to create images of sexual violence against minors “poses significant challenges for authorities to identify the actual victims.”

“Even in cases where the content is completely artificial and in which no real victim is shown, as in Operation Cumberland, child pornography content produced by AI always contributes to the commercialization and transformation of children into sex objects,” Europol said in its statement.

According to the UK-based organization the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), many images and videos of abused children are so realistic that they are difficult to distinguish from those of real children. In the coming days, Europol will launch an online campaign to highlight the consequences of using AI for illegal purposes and target potential offenders “where they are most active: online.”