🔗 Share this article

Tech firms and child protection organizations will receive authority to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can generate child exploitation images under new British legislation.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement coincided with findings from a safety monitoring body showing that cases of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the last twelve months, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Framework

Under the changes, the government will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI models – the underlying systems for chatbots and image generators – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from creating depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping exploitation before it occurs," declared the minister for AI and online safety, adding: "Experts, under strict protocols, can now identify the risk in AI systems early."

Tackling Legal Obstacles

The amendments have been introduced because it is against the law to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot create such images as part of a evaluation process. Until now, officials had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

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

Legal Structure

The amendments are being introduced by the government as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI systems developed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

This week, the minister toured 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 call portrayed a teenager requesting help after facing extortion using a explicit AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

"When I hear about young people experiencing extortion online, it is a source of extreme anger in me and rightful concern amongst families," he said.

Concerning Statistics

A leading online safety foundation reported that instances of AI-generated abuse material – such as webpages that may include numerous images – had significantly increased so far this year.

Cases of the most severe material – the gravest form of exploitation – increased from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Girls were overwhelmingly victimized, accounting for 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Depictions of infants to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Reaction

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

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so victims can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, providing criminals the ability to make potentially endless amounts of sophisticated, lifelike exploitative content," she continued. "Content which additionally commodifies survivors' trauma, and makes children, particularly girls, less safe both online and offline."

Support Interaction Information

Childline also released details of counselling sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks discussed in the sessions include:

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, body and looks
• AI assistants discouraging children from talking to safe guardians about harm
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Digital extortion using AI-faked images

Between April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, conversational AI and related topics were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellness, encompassing using chatbots for support and AI therapy applications.