AI - protecting both children and law enforcement

Transforming Child Protection with AI.

The week-long event, focused on child protection, united 20 participants with one mission: to disrupt and mitigate the harm caused by child sexual exploitation. This effort highlights Childhood’s commitment to investing in scalable technological solutions to protect children. “We must use the full potential of technology to protect children”, says HRH Princess Madeleine after visiting the INTERPOL DevOps event. "What this group achieved by collaborating in just one week shows how quickly we can move forward if we commit—and we must."

(Available in Swedish here: https://childhood.se/nyheter/ai-kan-skydda-bade-barn-och-polis/ )

INTERPOL DevOps aims to develop scalable technical solutions to support Law Enforcement Agencies in the investigation and prevention of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA). 

Police have to spend countless hours reviewing and describing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in painstaking detail, frame by frame—a process that is not only time-consuming but also places a tremendous strain on investigators' mental health. At the heart of this particular collaboration is a project that aims to reduce toxic exposure to CSAM while streamlining the investigative process so investigators can spend more time looking for unidentified children than documenting their abuse. 

Early trials show promising results of improved processing efficiency and decreased exposure to CSAM. This frees up critical resources, enabling law enforcement to focus on identifying victims and perpetrators, faster.  

Christian Wallfors, Case Officer at the Swedish Police Authority noted, "This project offers enormous potential, especially in protecting the mental health of investigators by reducing their exposure to distressing material. AI can help relieve this burden, allowing investigators to focus more on prevention and victim identification ” 

The initiative’s goals, including cross-border collaboration and the ability to work across languages, underscore its potential global impact. Jonas Seider, at the Australian Federal Police, added, "This week demonstrated what’s possible when law enforcement, tech, and child safety organizations pull together. We built something that now stands to make a real difference." 

The following organizations took part in the DevOps event in Stockholm between the 16th and 20th of September: World Childhood Foundation, Global Emancipation Network, Magnet Forensics, Forensik.IT, NCMEC, Aylo, Google, ACCCE (Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation), North Florida ICAC, Web-IQ and Child Rescue Coalition. 

Childhood remains committed to supporting innovative technological solutions to protect children. This event was made possible through funding by Stella Polaris, Childhood's hub that unites children's rights and AI to coordinate and intensify AI-related initiatives to combat child sexual abuse. Childhood's Stella Polaris project is funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery. 

Available in Swedish here: https://childhood.se/nyheter/ai-kan-skydda-bade-barn-och-polis/