Courtney Presses for AI Industry Accountability Amid Avalanche of Child Exploitation Reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), a senior Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, called on the tech industry to be held accountable for the crisis of online child exploitation involving generative artificial intelligence, which has overwhelmed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“Clearly, there’s a cost here. There’s a social cost to AI, which we as a society have to figure out who pays in terms of dealing with that,” Courtney said. “It seems that industry has an obligation here given the fact that there’s a direct connection to [AI] scaling rapidly… and really, what’s also happening rapidly in terms of negative fallout.”
In the first six months of 2024 compared to the first six months 2025, reports to NCMEC of generative artificial intelligence related to child sexual exploitation soared from 6,835 (2024) reports to 440,419 (2025) reports, according to NCMEC.
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In 2024, Congressman Courtney’s bill the Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act was signed into law. The bipartisan bill renewed the Missing Children’s Assistance Act (MCAA) and makes critical updates to help NCMEC better respond to crimes affecting children, supporting youth who are missing, and prevent child sexual exploitation and victimization.
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