Seoul shares award-winning AI sex crime detection tool for free across South Korea

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced it will distribute its patented artificial intelligence system for detecting sexually exploitative content free of charge to institutions across South Korea and potentially to international non-profits. First introduced in 2023 and deployed at the Seoul Digital Sex Crime Support Centre, this award-winning tool automates the identification, reporting, and blocking of unlawful sexual images and videos on illicit websites and social media through 24/7 real-time monitoring. The system has won top domestic and international honors, including a presidential award and the UN Public Service Award, and represents a significant escalation in the automated fight against digital sex crimes.

The technology's impact is quantified by dramatic efficiency gains: it slashes the average time to process and request removal of content from approximately three hours to just six minutes—a 30-fold improvement—while more than doubling detection accuracy compared to manual methods. These capabilities are enhanced by integrated facial recognition and an automatic reporting system. As a result, the Seoul support centre handled 15,777 deletion-support cases in 2025, a massive increase from 2,509 in 2022 prior to the AI's deployment. By making the system freely available, Seoul aims to standardize this high-efficacy response tool across government agencies, local governments, and public-interest companies, addressing the cross-border nature of these digital offenses.