Sec Remulla: Congress should address child sexual exploitation materials generated thru AI
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla on Friday, Nov. 24, said there is a need for Congress to address child sexual exploitation materials generated by the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
“We should ask Congress to look into this matter of AI use and the kind of offenses that will be charged against the people who use AI to achieve the desired effect,” Remulla said during a press briefing at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“I think it is very important and urgent thing for us to talk to Congress about legal reform in this regard,” he added.
Despite being generated by AI, Remulla stressed: “Sa likod ng AI, tao rin (behind AI are also people).
Remulla pointed this out after Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) Undersecretary Angelo M. Tapales warned that the use of AI to produce child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM) has begun to spread worldwide.
“It is already existing in other countries and we have been informed by one telecommunications company that soon it will be in the Philippines,” said Tapales who was at the DOJ on Friday.
“So we have to be prepared,” he pointed out.
He noted that “it is also extremely difficult to distinguish between AI and pictures generated from real photographs of children.”
He said the existing laws against CSAEM and online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC) can hold liable those involved in the production, distribution and use of these AI-generated materials.
"The anti-OSAEC, CSAEM Act is very clear that production of these materials, distribution and even possession is such an offense…,” he added.
The CWC and DOJ on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the implementation of the CWC’s Makabata 1383 Helpline Project that was launched last year.
“The Makabata Hotline serves as a lifeline offering a confidential and accessible channel for our children to report abuse, voice their fears, seek guidance and find support that they just might need,” Remulla said.
He said the MOU “affirms our shared goal of ending all forms of child abuse, neglect and exploitation in the country.”