Spark said it was critical to make its network a safer place for customers and their families. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Spark says it will be the country's first internet provider to block all child sexual abuse images made with artificial intelligence (AI).
The company already stops people accessing photorealistic material made with AI.
It announced on Tuesday it will also block non-photorealistic AI and computer-generated child sexual abuse material, including cartoon-style imagery.
"In New Zealand, it is still a crime to create and share that kind of imagery," Spark sustainability director Leela Ashford said.
The block list of URLs comes from the Internet Watch Foundation, which said there has been a 400 percent rise in AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
The foundation said the proliferation of both photorealistic, and non-photorealistic AI material, was growing globally.
Spark said it was critical to make its network a safer place for customers and their families.
"We're never going to stop people creating this kind of content, we're never going to stop people who really want to access it, but this will hopefully avoid kids stumbling across it, even adults inadvertently coming across it," Ashford said.
"And obviously, it's quite awful imagery to be exposed to."
Ashford said the rise in such images was shocking.
"While it's not a depiction of a real crime it's still normalising sexual violence against children, and really there is no excuse for making of viewing or sharing that kind of content. It makes it more likely to happen in the real world."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
