The Home Office and the Microsoft launched a new tool which identifies and blocks child grooming conversations online with the help of artificial intelligence. This tool is part of the government’s work in the UK, to fight against child sexual exploitation in all its forms.
The project started in 2018, when engineers began analysing thousands of conversations to learn patterns used by predators. To develop the technique, they have worked through technical, legal and policy aspects.
The aim is to help technology companies filter for child grooming on their platforms, and thereby show that theirs is not a safe space to abuse children.
Besides this tool, there are different initiatives to uncover the most dangerous offenders on the dark web, to upgrade the Child Abuse Image Database, to improve the capabilities of the police, and to identify and block live-streamed child sexual abuse. During the Five Country Ministerial meeting, the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand agreed to collaborate in improving child protection systems.