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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Gov't airs concerns of AI's emerging threat in online sexual abuse of children

Gov't airs concerns of AI's emerging threat in online sexual abuse of children

Published Feb 10, 2026 01:47 pm
The government expressed concerns over the emerging threats spawned by artificial intelligence (AI) in the online sexual abuse of children.
During a press conference at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday, Feb. 10, on the occasion of the Safer Internet Day, Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) Undersecretary Angelo M. Tapales said that from 2023 to 2024, “AI-generated child sexual abuse materials increased by 1,325 percent globally.”
Tapales said that while half of AI is really beneficial to everybody -- not just children, but also adults -- the other half “is a dark and pernicious threat to children and it is something lurking there, waiting to victimize our children.”
DOJ Assistant Secretary Miechelle Anne S. Lapuz, on the other hand, said “they are equally harmful to the victims and at the same time proliferation of materials normalizes the act.”
Thus, Lapuz said the DOJ is closely watching.
“It’s up to us -- from government, from media, from the NGOs (non-government organizations), CSOs (civil society organizations), and the private sector -- to be unified with the message in saying that, in the Philippines, this is absolutely unacceptable and we will do everything we can to prevent it from happening…,” she said.
She urged the public to inform authorities if anything unacceptable is happening in their neighborhoods, communities, and schools.
Tapales warned that Republic Act (RA) No. 11930, the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act, prohibits the proliferation of image-based sexual abuse materials including those created by AI.
He noted the move of the DOJ in spearheading the amendment to the current law to further define the use of AI and other emerging technologies.
He admitted that “the proliferation of AI-generated CSAEM also overwhelms our law enforcement system.”
He warned that AI-generated CSAEMs “will be harming the children’s sector as a whole because we will be normalizing sexual abuse of children online.”
Tapales cited that AI can turn photos of children into CSAEM or make CSAEM images from scratch, and there are also applications called “nudifiers” that remove the clothing of people in photos.
He lamented: “There are many AI or text applications mimicking a sexual conversation with a child. If you ask some AIs, you can even be advised or there can be tutorials or suggestions on how to sexually abuse children.”
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