Australian Federal Police calling for childhood pictures of Aussies to help save children from abuse

Police are calling on Aussies to offer up their childhood pictures to create a powerful new AI tool aimed at saving children from online abuse.

Crowdsourcing 100,000 young faces is the next critical phase in the fight to save children from online child abuse and catch predators.

The Australian Federal Police want the childhood images of Australians to build a world-first complex artificial intelligence program that will be at the frontline of combating the expanding scourge.

It will then be used to detect child sexual abuse material shared on the dark web or confiscated in criminal ­investigations.

The My Pictures Matter tool will find the images on websites and suspects’ electronic devices then process them for investigators.

It is not designed to trawl the internet but zero in on specific persons of interest.

Such technology will spare detectives having to manually search through tens of thousands of files in the hunt for evidence.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Lesa Gale says the database is sitting at less than 1000 images.

Working through a high volume of depraved images is regarded as extremely ­distressing for child abuse ­investigators.

The AFP and Monash University want adults of all ethnicities to provide pictures of themselves before they turned 17.

It is hoped an initial 10,000 images will allow My Pictures Matter to be up and running within 12 months.

Ultimately, researchers and police want to have 100,000 faces to feed into the database.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Lesa Gale said it was the first time the organisation had made a nationwide call for such action.

“By having access to ordinary, everyday photographs, the AI tool will be trained to look for what is different and identify unsafe situations, flagging potential child sexual abuse material,” she said.

Ms Gale said she was “deeply concerned” about the amount of child abuse material circulating online.

Many AFP members have donated their own childhood pictures to the campaign.

“This project is so important because it may not only save a child from being abused a day longer, but it also will help our members, who day-in, day-out, are required to watch children being sexually abused for investigative purposes,” she said.

Ms Gale said it was crucial for adults to send through pictures of themselves when they were children to build up a bank of images that could be used within the next year, with the current collection sitting at less than 1000 images.

“For it to work in the most effective way, we need about 100,000 pictures of Australians aged between 0-17, and of all ethnicities. We also do not want to source images from the internet because children in those pictures have not consented for their photographs to be uploaded or used for research.”

Ms Gale, who will be submitting her own childhood pictures to the database, said she would do so in a bid to encourage the public to help stop children pictured in abuse material from being used as a sexual ­“commodity”.

The tool will find the images on websites and suspects’ electronic devices.

“The creation of child abuse material is a horrendous crime,” she said.

“The children in this material are not actors, they are real children being abused.

“The victims in these images are children and they are being used as a commodity for the sexual gratification of others, including those who try to make money from the abuse.”

Dr Nina Lewis, the head of the My Pictures Matter project said images were de-identified and securely held for Monash University.

Anyone who changed their mind could later withdraw their childhood images.

“Consent isn’t just saying ‘yes’, it means understanding what you’re agreeing to,” Dr Lewis said.

“We can reassure people that this dataset is wholly owned and managed by Monash University with use by our AFP colleagues subject to the same transparency and accountability measures that apply for all researchers on the team working to combat child abuse.”

The campaign is part of National Child Protection Week, which runs until this ­Saturday.

Anyone wanting more information or wishing to take part can visit mypicturesmatter.org.

Originally published as Australian Federal Police calling for childhood pictures of Aussies to help save children from abuse