Sexual predators are using a powerful new tool to exploit children -- AI image generators. Users on a single dark-web forum shared nearly 3,000 AI-generated images of child sexual abuse in just one month, according to a recent report from the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation.

Unfortunately, current child sexual abuse laws are outdated. They don't adequately account for the unique dangers AI and other emerging technologies pose. Lawmakers must act fast to put legal protections in place.

The national CyberTipline -- a reporting system for suspected online child exploitation -- received a staggering 32 million reports in 2022, up from 21 million just two years prior. That already disturbing figure is sure to grow with the rise of image-generating AI platforms.

AI platforms are "trained" on existing visual material. Sources used to create images of abuse may include real children's faces taken from social media, or photographs of real-life exploitation. Given the tens of millions of abusive images online, there is an almost inexhaustible amount of source material from which AI can generate even more harmful images.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

The most advanced AI-generated images are now virtually indistinguishable from unaltered photographs. Investigators have found new images of old victims, images of "de-aged" celebrities who are depicted as children in abuse scenarios, and "nudified" images taken from otherwise benign photos of clothed children.

The scope of the problem is increasing every day. Text-to-image software can easily create images of child abuse based on whatever the perpetrator wants to see. And much of this technology is downloadable, so offenders can generate images off-line without fear of discovery.

Using AI to create pictures of child sex abuse is not a victimless crime. Behind every AI image, there are real children. Survivors of past exploitation are re-victimized when new portrayals are created using their likeness. And studies show that a majority of those who possess or distribute child sex abuse material also commit hands-on abuse.

TOP LAWMAKER ON AI WORKING GROUP SAYS PRIVACY REGULATIONS SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR CONGRESS

Adults can also use text-generating AI platforms like ChatGPT to better lure children, updating an old tactic. Criminals have long used fake online identities to meet young people in games or on social media, gain their trust and manipulate them into sending explicit images, then "sextort" them for money, more pictures, or physical acts.

But ChatGPT makes it shockingly easy to masquerade as a child or teen with youthful language. Today's criminals can use AI platforms to generate realistic messages with the goal of manipulating a young person into engaging in an online interaction with someone they think is their own age. Even more terrifying, many modern AI tools have the capacity to quickly "learn" -- and therefore teach people -- which grooming techniques are the most effective.

President Biden recently signed an executive order geared at managing the risks of AI, including protecting Americans' privacy and personal data. But we need help from lawmakers to tackle AI-assisted online child abuse.

For starters, we need to update the federal legal definition of child sexual abuse material to include AI-generated depictions. As the law currently stands, prosecutors must show harm to an actual child. But this requirement is out of step with today's technology. A defense team could feasibly claim that AI child sexual abuse material is not depicting a real child and therefore isn't harmful, even though we know that AI generated images often pull from source material that victimizes real children.

Second, we must adopt policies requiring tech companies to continuously monitor and report exploitative material. Some companies proactively scan for such images, but there's no requirement that they do so. Only three companies were responsible for 98% of all CyberTips in 2020 and 2021: Facebook, Google, and Snapchat.

Many state child sex abuse laws identify "mandatory reporters," or professionals like teachers and doctors who are legally required to report suspected abuse. But in an era in which we live so much of our lives online, employees of social media and other tech companies ought to have similar legally mandated reporting responsibilities.

Finally, we need to rethink how we use end-to-end encryption, in which only the sender and receiver can access the content of a message or file. While it has valid applications, like banking or medical records, end-to-end encryption can also help people store and share child abuse images. To illustrate just how many abusers could go undetected, consider that out of the 29 million tips the CyberTipline received in 2021, just 160 came from Apple, which maintains end-to-end encryption for iMessages and iCloud.

Even if law enforcement has a warrant to access a perpetrator's files, a tech company with end-to-end encryption can claim that it can't access those files and can't help. Surely an industry built on innovation is capable of developing solutions to protect our children -- and making that a priority.

AI technology and social media are evolving every day. If lawmakers act now, we can prevent wide-scale harm to kids.

Teresa Huizar is CEO of National Children's Alliance, America's largest network of care centers for child abuse victims.

Aretha Franklin, whose booming vocals and powerful personal presence made her one of the great entertainers in global history, became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on this day in history, Jan. 3, 1987. 

"Aretha Franklin was an artist of passion, sophistication and command, whose recordings remain anthems that defined soul music," the Rock Hall writes in its biography of the performer. 

She "was only 25 when she clinched the title of Lady Soul with her unforgettably proud, sexy, candid and confident 1967 version of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect.’"

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, JANUARY 2, 1920, THOUSANDS DETAINED BY DOJ IN NATIONWIDE ‘PALMER RAIDS'

Franklin's version of "Respect" and other hits such as "Think" captured the unique force of her voice and made her an icon of both female empowerment and the civil rights movement. 

Her range as an artist was expressed in vocally tender and more personally vulnerable tunes such as "Say a Little Prayer" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Franklin, also popularly known as the Queen of Soul, topped the list of the "200 Best Singers of All Time" that Rolling Stone just released on Jan. 1.

"A force of nature. A work of genius. A gift from the heavens. Aretha Franklin’s voice is all that and more, which is why she remains the unchallenged Queen, years after her final bow," Rolling Stone said of the performer who died in 2018 of pancreatic cancer.

ROCK HALL WELCOMES 1934 RICKENBACKER TO ITS COLLECTION AS VERY FIRST ELECTRIC GUITAR

The publication also said, "Her singing is the most magnificent sound to emerge from America — more universal than Coltrane’s horn, bolder than Hendrix’s guitar."

Another Rolling Stone — guitarist Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones — had the honor of inducting Franklin into the Rock Hall in 1987.

"The dictionary has been used up. There’s no superlatives left," Richards said at the ceremony.

Franklin entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame after the organization was criticized for introducing male performers only in its debut class of 10 artists in 1986.

The group boasted a broad cross-section of talents from several genres — James Brown, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, among them. But there were no women. 

The criticism has continued even in more recent times.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, DECEMBER 30, 1968, LED ZEPPELIN WAS RECORDED LIVE FOR FIRST TIME AT GONZAGA UNIVERSITY

"People have lambasted the hall for this chauvinism for years," Billboard wrote in 2019. "When Steve Miller was inducted in 2016, he called the Hall a ‘private boys club.’"

Aretha Franklin busted down the door of the club. 

The performer was born in Memphis in 1942 to the Reverend Clarence L. Franklin and Barbara V. Siggers. Her family moved two years later to Detroit, where her father ministered at New Bethel Baptist Church to many of the Motor City's most celebrated performers. 

"Living in the church parish house on Boston Boulevard and Oakland Avenue, Aretha was exposed at an early age to such music legends as Art Tatum and Nat King Cole, when they visited her father," the Detroit Historical Society notes.

"When she was 17, Franklin’s father decided that after five years of singing with his traveling gospel show, she was ready to pursue her singing in New York City. In 1967, the year ‘Respect’ hit the charts, Franklin was crowned ‘Queen of Soul’ by Chicago DJ Pervis Spann. From there Aretha would come to have 20 number-one R&B hits and garner more than 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994."

Though she was raised and then also died in Detroit, Franklin never recorded for Motown Records. 

She was instead represented by major labels including Columbia, Atlantic and Arista records.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

Her honors extended far behind the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Franklin performed at three presidential inaugurations. She was inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2005, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020. 

She earned a Pulitzer Prize special citation in 2019 honoring "her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades"

President George W. Bush presented Franklin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2005. 

"Aretha was a woman of achievement, with a deep character and a loving heart," the president wrote in a letter of condolence to Franklin's family upon her death in 2018. 

"She made important and lasting contributions to American music, with her Gospel-inspired style and distinctive voice. Her remarkable talent helped shape our nation’s cultural and artistic heritage," he also wrote.

"I am proud to have met Aretha, and am grateful that her music will continue to bring joy to millions for generations to come." 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.