🔗 Share this article

Technology companies and child protection organizations will be granted permission to evaluate whether AI tools can generate child abuse material under recently introduced UK laws.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement coincided with findings from a safety watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have increased dramatically in the past year, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Structure

Under the amendments, the authorities will permit designated AI companies and child safety groups to inspect AI models – the foundational technology for chatbots and image generators – and ensure they have adequate protective measures to stop them from creating images of child exploitation.

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

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

The changes have been introduced because it is against the law to produce and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such content as part of a testing regime. Previously, officials had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before dealing with it.

This law is designed to averting that problem by enabling to stop the production of those images at their origin.

Legislative Structure

The changes are being introduced by the government as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a ban on possessing, creating or distributing AI systems developed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Consequences

This week, the official visited the London headquarters of a children's helpline and heard a mock-up conversation to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based exploitation. The call depicted a adolescent requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

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

Concerning Statistics

A prominent online safety foundation reported that cases of AI-generated abuse material – such as online pages that may contain numerous images – had more than doubled so far this year.

Cases of the most severe content – the most serious form of abuse – increased from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were overwhelmingly victimized, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Depictions of infants to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Response

The law change could "represent a vital step to guarantee AI tools are secure before they are released," stated the head of the internet monitoring foundation.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, giving offenders the ability to make possibly endless quantities of advanced, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which additionally commodifies victims' trauma, and makes young people, particularly female children, less safe on and off line."

Support Interaction Information

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

• Employing AI to rate weight, physique and appearance
• AI assistants dissuading young people from consulting trusted guardians about harm
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures

Between April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 counselling sessions where AI, chatbots and related 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 related to psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, encompassing using AI assistants for support and AI therapy apps.