Technology is enabling traffickers to identify, recruit, and control victims at scale, making exploitation harder to detect, a UK study warns Artificial intelligence is helping criminals expand their entrapment of modern-day slaves across the UK, with traffickers increasingly using digital tools to identify and exploit victims, a new report has found. Criminal networks in the UK are seeking to enslave people through coercion, deception, or force, including forced labor, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking, the study, commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, has found. AI is enabling traffickers to “identify, recruit and control victims at scale,” making exploitation more widespread and significantly harder to detect. The report noted that the number of reported cases reached 23,411 in 2025, the highest on record and marked a 22% annual increase, underscoring what officials describe as a growing crisis.…