AI-generated child sexual abuse images “spawn new nightmare for the web”
- Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) has seen an increase in images depicting child sexual exploitation.
- This has led to concerns among child-safety investigators that they will undermine efforts to combat real-world abuse.
- Thousands of AI-generated child sexual abuse images have been found on forums across the dark web.
- On one forum of 3,000 members, around 80% responded to an internal poll stating they had used or intended to use AI tools to create child sexual abuse images.
- The director of data science at Thorn has reported that children’s images, including content of known victims are being repurposed for this “really evil output”.
- The images have sparked debate on whether they violate child protection laws as often they depict children who do not exist.
- For more, please visit the Washington Post website.
WhatsApp introduces feature to automatically silence calls from unknown numbers
- Following complaints from customers in India, the platform has introduced a new feature to automatically silence calls from unknown numbers.
- This is to combat the amount of spam calls users are receiving.
- Users can turn on this option by going to ‘Settings’, ‘Privacy’, ‘Calls’ and then selecting the ‘Silence unknown caller option’.
- WhatsApp said that while calls from unknown numbers will be automatically silenced, they will show up in notifications and the app’s call list.
- The platform has also added a new privacy check-up feature that will appear in the Privacy section.
- This feature will take the user through the processes for setting up different privacy controls within the app.
- For more, please visit the Tech Crunch website.
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NHS 111: Mental Health hotline launched in Wales
- Those suffering with urgent mental health problems in Wales can now contact an NHS hotline.
- It is a 24-hour seven-day-a-week service and can be accessed by calling 111 and selecting option two.
- The service will be available for people of all ages.
- It is hoped to be an alternative to attending emergency departments and calling the police.
- The Welsh Government has said that the service gives public access to a “mental health professional” without the need for a GP referral.
- The hotline has been rolling out gradually since November and has had more than 15,000 calls already.
- To read more, go to the BBC’s and the NHS Wales website.
