South Korea has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system to strengthen efforts to detect and remove online child sexual abuse material, with more than 96,000 cases identified in its first six months of operation.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said the National Center for Digital Sexual Crime Response began using the system in April as the country steps up efforts to tackle increasingly sophisticated digital sex crimes.
Between April and September, the centre detected 96,210 pieces of child sexual abuse material and notified online platforms to remove them.
This represents an average of 202.1 cases daily, a sharp increase from last year’s daily average of just 20.8 cases.
The AI system operates around the clock, scanning online platforms, including social media networks and random chat applications, for illegal content in real time.
Previously, centre employees had to monitor these platforms manually. The new technology is expected to reduce their workload and speed up the detection process.
Once the system flags suspected material, staff members review it before submitting requests to the relevant platforms for removal.
The ministry plans to expand the system’s coverage to 139 online platforms next year, up from 79 this year.
It also intends to improve the system’s detection accuracy by training it with data from the centre’s existing database.
Established in 2018, the National Center for Digital Sexual Crime Response provides comprehensive assistance to victims of digital sexual crimes, including helping remove illegal online material and pursuing legal action.
Last year, the centre provided support to 10,637 people, including 3,052 victims aged below 20.
