🔗 Share this article

Tech firms and child protection organizations will receive authority to assess whether artificial intelligence systems can produce child exploitation material under new UK laws.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The announcement coincided with revelations from a protection watchdog showing that cases of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the past year, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Framework

Under the amendments, the government will permit approved AI companies and child safety organizations to inspect AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have sufficient safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about preventing abuse before it occurs," declared the minister for AI and online safety, noting: "Experts, under rigorous protocols, can now detect the danger in AI models early."

Addressing Regulatory Obstacles

The changes have been implemented because it is against the law to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and other parties cannot generate such images as part of a testing process. Previously, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

This law is designed to averting that problem by helping to halt the creation of those images at source.

Legal Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also implementing a ban on possessing, creating or sharing AI models designed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This recently, the minister visited the London base of a children's helpline and listened to a mock-up conversation to advisors involving a report of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a teenager seeking help after facing extortion using a sexualised AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

"When I hear about children experiencing extortion online, it is a source of extreme frustration in me and rightful concern amongst parents," he stated.

Alarming Statistics

A leading internet monitoring organization reported that cases of AI-generated exploitation material – such as online pages that may include numerous images – had more than doubled so far this year.

Cases of category A content – the most serious form of exploitation – rose from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Female children were predominantly targeted, making up 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of newborns to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "constitute a crucial step to guarantee AI products are safe before they are launched," stated the head of the online safety organization.

"AI tools have made it so survivors can be victimised repeatedly with just a few clicks, giving offenders the ability to make possibly limitless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike exploitative content," she continued. "Material which additionally commodifies survivors' trauma, and makes young people, particularly girls, more vulnerable on and off line."

Counseling Session Information

The children's helpline also published details of support interactions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks mentioned in the sessions include:

• Employing AI to rate body size, body and appearance
• AI assistants dissuading young people from consulting trusted adults about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Digital extortion using AI-faked images

Between April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 support sessions where AI, conversational AI and associated topics were discussed, four times as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Fifty percent of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with mental health and wellness, encompassing utilizing AI assistants for assistance and AI therapeutic applications.