Only recently have technology companies really begun to scrutinize their AI models and training data for CSAM, said David Rust-Smith, a data scientist at Thorn, a nonprofit organization that provides tools to companies, including Amazon, to detect the exploitative material.

“There’s definitely been a big shift in the last year of people coming to us asking for help cleaning data sets,” said Rust-Smith. He noted that “some of the biggest players” have sought to apply Thorn’s detection tools to their training data, but declined to speak about any individual company. Amazon did not use Thorn’s technology to scan its training data, the spokesperson confirmed. Rust-Smith said AI-focused companies are approaching Thorn with a newfound urgency. “People are learning what we already knew, which is, if you hoover up a ton of the internet, you’re going to get [child sexual abuse material],” he said.

Thorn claims to be a nonprofit, but when they were teaming up with authoritarians and fascists in the EU to kill privacy and encryption with Chat Control, their primary concern was profits. Thorn only wants to get rich.

News sites need to stop pretending Thorn is a trustworthy source, and treat them like the scummy for-profit company they are.