On May 2nd, under the AI for Safer Children initiative, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), through its Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, and the Ministry of Interior of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), conducted a training for Nigerian law enforcement authorities. The online training brought together over 40 law enforcement participants from the Nigerian National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and Technology Against Crime in Africa, as well as invitees from other agencies.
During the training, participants explored the application of various AI tools and techniques throughout an investigative workflow, including victim and suspect identification. They benefited from presentations delivered by numerous guest experts and technology providers, including representatives from the Child Rescue Coalition (CRC), the Internet Crime Against Children Task Force Child Online Protection System (ICACCOPS), and Griffeye Analyze DI Core. Additionally, the Nigerian participants shared their own experiences and insights.
As one participant concluded: "I am very grateful to be part of this training, it has really widened my knowledge about AI and the various tools available. We need both technical, hardware support and more training on this subject."
With each case involving hundreds of thousands of images and videos, there has been an exponential increase in child sexual exploitation and abuse material, leading to unmanageable workloads for human investigators sifting through the files. This is where Nigerian law enforcement is looking to implement AI tools into their work and actively building knowledge on the resources available to them.
According to Irakli Beridze, the head of the UNICRI Centre for AI and Robotics: “As AI technology progresses extremely fast, the specialized AI for Safer Children trainings are making an enormous impact in the fight against child sexual exploitation and abuse by building capacity for national authorities worldwide and bringing existing tools to the attention of law enforcement, sustaining their particular needs and interests.”
The AI for Safer Children initiative aims to bridge this gap through its online platform, the AI for Safer Children Global Hub. This platform serves as a centralized place for law enforcement to access information about more than 80 cutting-edge AI tools, no matter the level of technical skill or prior experience with AI tools they may possess. It also provides guidance on the responsible implementation of AI in investigations related to child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The Global Hub fosters international collaboration and communication and has already engaged over 700 investigators from 112 countries. Any country within this network can request specialized trainings on AI for Safer Children free of charge, including possible follow-up training sessions. The UNICRI Centre for AI and Robotics is committed to the sustainable capacity building of law enforcement agencies to leverage the positive potential of frontier technologies in this crucial area of safeguarding children.
For additional information and to join the Global Hub if you are in law enforcement, please click here.
