A new report from the English children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, warns that while creating or sharing a sexually explicit image of a child is already illegal, technology which makes such images trivial to create is legal and easily accessible.

The report highlights findings from children in focus groups, with young girls in particular saying that they were limiting their online participation to avoid becoming victims of nudification tools.

Dame Rachel said: “In our lifetime, we have seen the rise and power of artificial intelligence – once the stuff of science fiction – to shape the way we learn, connect and experience the world.

“It has enormous potential to enhance our lives, but in the wrong hands it also brings alarming risks to children’s safety online.

“Children have told me they are frightened by the very idea of this technology even being available, let alone used.

“They fear that anyone – a stranger, a classmate, or even a friend – could use a smartphone as a way of manipulating them by creating a naked image using these bespoke apps.

“Girls have told me they now actively avoid posting images or engaging online to reduce the risk of being targeted by this technology – we cannot allow sit back and allow these bespoke AI apps to have such a dangerous hold over children’s lives.”

She added: “The online world is revolutionary and quickly evolving, but there is no positive reason for these particular apps to exist. They have no place in our society.

“Tools using deepfake technology to create naked images of children should not be legal and I’m calling on the government to take decisive action to ban them, instead of allowing them to go unchecked with extreme real-world consequences.”