A tipline set up 26 years ago to combat online child exploitation has not lived up to its potential and needs technological and other improvements to help law enforcement go after abusers and rescue victims, a new report from the Stanford Internet Observatory has found.
The fixes to what the researchers describe as an “enormously valuable” service must also come urgently as new artificial intelligence technology threatens to worsen its problems.
“Almost certainly in the years to come, the CyberTipline will just be flooded with highly realistic-looking AI content, which is going to make it even harder for law enforcement to identify real children who need to be rescued,” said researcher Shelby Grossman, an author of the report.
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