Feb. 28 (UPI) — A worldwide police operation resulted in the arrest of 25 people on charges related to producing and distributing images of minors entirely generated by artificial intelligence, authorities confirmed Friday.
The operation spanned 19 countries including the United States, with arrests taking place earlier in the week, EUROPOL, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation said in a statement.
“(This) has been one of the first cases involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material, making it exceptionally challenging for investigators, especially due to the lack of national legislation addressing these crimes,” EUROPOL said in its statement.
The agency, which was founded in 1999, calls this kind of crime “one of the most threatening manifestations of cybercrime in the European Union.”
In addition to the arrests this week, authorities searched 33 houses and seized 173 electronic devices.
The operation remains ongoing and police expect more arrests in the coming weeks, the agency said in the statement.
“These artificially generated images are so easily created that they can be produced by individuals with criminal intent, even without substantial technical knowledge,” EUROPOL Executive Director Catherine De Bolle said in the agency’s statement.
“This contributes to the growing prevalence of child sexual abuse material, and as the volume increases, it becomes progressively more challenging for investigators to identify offenders or victims. Law enforcement will need to develop new investigative methods and tools to address these emerging challenges.”
Authorities from Denmark led the operation, which also involved officials in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
“The main suspect, a Danish national who was arrested in November 2024, ran an online platform where he distributed the AI-generated material he produced. Following a symbolic online payment, users from around the world were able to obtain a password to access the platform and watch children being abused,” EUROPOL said in the statement.
Last August, a U.S. Army soldier in Alaska was arrested for using AI to produce explicit images of children.
