"Search engines required to stamp out AI-generated images of child abuse under Australia’s new code", 7 September 2023

Artificial intelligence tools could be used to generate child abuse images and terrorist propaganda, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has warned while announcing a world-leading industry standard that requires tech giants to stamp out such material on AI-powered search engines.

The new industry code covering search engines, to be detailed..., requires big tech firms like Google, Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo to eliminate child abuse material from their search results, and to take steps to ensure generative AI products can’t be used to generate deepfake versions of that material.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, said the companies themselves needed to be at the forefront of reducing the harms their products can create. “We are seeing ‘synthetic’ child abuse material come through,” she said. “Terror organisations are using generative AI to create propaganda. It’s already happening. It’s not a fanciful thing. We felt it needed to be covered.”

Microsoft and Google recently announced plans to integrate their AI tools ChatGPT and Bard respectively with their popular consumer search engines. Inman Grant said the progress of AI technology required a rethink of the “search code” covering those platforms.

The eSafety Commissioner said the previous version of the code only covered online material that search engines returned after queries, not material that these services could generate. The new code will require search engines to regularly review and improve their AI tools to ensure “class 1A” material – including child sexual exploitation, pro-terror and extreme violence material – is not returned in search results, including by delisting and blocking such search results.

The companies will also be required to research technologies which would help users detect and identify deepfake images accessible from their services. The eSafety Commission believes it is one of the first frameworks of its kind in the world.

Inman Grant said the new rules would compel tech companies to not only reduce harms on their platforms, but to work on building tools to promote greater safety, such as to detect deep fake images.