Parents have been advised to avoid publicly sharing photos of their children online under new guidance aimed at addressing the growing threat of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

The recommendation was issued by the UK’s National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation, which warned that many parents remain unaware of how criminals and child predators can exploit children’s images using artificial intelligence, account to The Guardian.

Rather than posting photos publicly, the agencies encourage parents and guardians to make their social media accounts private or share images only with trusted contacts through features such as “close friends” groups.

They stressed that the guidance is intended to raise awareness of the risks, not dictate how parents should use social media.

The guidance also urges families to review older photos already posted online, as these could be manipulated by offenders using AI. In addition, parents are encouraged to revisit photo consent agreements with schools, sports clubs, and other organisations that may have been signed before recent advances in AI made sophisticated image manipulation possible.

“We encourage parents and carers to take a few simple steps today,” said Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA.

The guidance outlines three key steps for parents and caregivers to help protect their children’s images online: review the privacy settings on social media accounts, check who has access to photos of their children, and have open conversations about obtaining permission before individuals or organisations publish children’s images online.

The NCA warned that many parents and carers are unaware that advances in artificial intelligence have given criminals easy access to tools capable of generating child sexual abuse material from publicly available images.

As a result, offenders can create abusive content without having to contact or groom children directly.

“The average parent or carer does not post a picture of a child online thinking that it might be scraped to be turned into CSAM,” said Lorna Sinclair, a child sexual abuse education manager at the NCA. “There are lots of parents and carers who do not know that this problem exists.”