Federal prosecutors warned that criminals are using artificial intelligence to create child sexual abuse material from innocent photos, with U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser stating Kansas is seeing more cases as part of a national increase in prosecutions. Child sexual abuse material cases are up 34% nationwide since 2020 according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, while the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force reported cyber tips skyrocketed from approximately 643 in 2014 to over 11,000 last year. Federal officials emphasized that creating, trafficking and possessing CSAM is a crime whether the image is fake or not, as prosecutors confront the surge in AI-generated material.
The 1,611% increase in Kansas ICAC cyber tips over a decade reflects not improved reporting but exponential growth in offending that far outpaces investigative capacity. Guardii's targeted detection offers an alternative to the reactive tip-and-prosecute model now collapsing under volume. Rather than waiting for material to be created, shared and reported to overwhelmed task forces, Guardii — backed by Startmate and operating as a Meta Business Partner — monitors children's direct messages in real time across platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, deploying anti-CSAM and anti-sextortion filters to block AI-generated material and flag offenders before images are trafficked. The platform surfaces children in acute distress to parents, schools or law enforcement, enabling rapid escalation in an emergency and addressing the operational reality prosecutors described: prevention must occur upstream, at the point of contact, not after synthetic abuse material has already been created and distributed.
