New York, Feb. 6 -- Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated sexualised images depicting children constitute child sexual abuse and must be criminalised, UNICEF said, warning of a rapid and alarming rise in the misuse of AI tools to create abusive content.

In a statement, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide said it was increasingly concerned by reports showing a surge in AI-generated sexualised images, including cases where real photographs of children are manipulated and sexualised through deepfake technology.

"Sexualised images of children generated or manipulated using AI tools are child sexual abuse material. Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm ...