Australia blocks AI sites generating child sexual exploitation content

Staff Report: PNN

Australia’s internet regulator has announced that several websites using artificial intelligence (AI) to create child sexual exploitation content have been blocked in the country.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said on Thursday that three “Nudify” sites withdrew from the Australian market following government warnings. According to her office, these sites were visited about 100,000 times per month by Australian users and had been linked to high-profile AI-generated child sexual exploitation cases involving school students.

Grant stated, “These ‘Nudify’ services, which allow users to display real individuals’ images in the nude, had a devastating impact in Australian schools. We took strict action in September because the providers implemented no safety measures to prevent the creation of child sexual exploitation content. Instead, they marketed features to ‘nude any girl’ and generate ‘schoolgirl’ images with a ‘sex mode.’”

She further noted that if the company failed to take action after warnings, it faced a potential civil penalty of up to AUD 49.5 million ($32.2 million).

Additionally, AI model hosting platform Hugging Face has taken steps to comply with Australian law, including modifying its service terms to make users responsible for limiting misuse.

Australia is recognized as a global leader in protecting children online, having restricted social media use for under-16s and taking strict action against apps producing stocking or deepfake images.

Globally, the creation of illegal sexual imagery using AI is a growing concern, as photorealistic images can now be produced with just a few clicks. A survey conducted last year by U.S.-based organization Thorn found that 10% of individuals aged 13–20 reported deepfake nude images made from their photos, and 6% said they were directly targeted.