Dhaka, Oct. 5 -- The volume of AI-generated child sexual abuse material investigated so far this year has already surpassed the total for all of 2025, a leading watchdog says.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based organisation that monitors abuse material globally, says it assessed 6,310 AI-generated images meeting the legal definition of child sexual abuse in the first half of 2026 -- 40 percent more than the roughly 4,500 flagged across the whole of last year.

The Guardian says the material depicted children aged between seven and 13, with most of them being girls.

The figures come as the watchdog renews calls for binding legislation compelling technology companies to build AI systems that cannot be used to produce such con...