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Tech firms and child safety agencies will be granted authority to assess whether artificial intelligence systems can generate child abuse material under recently introduced British laws.

Substantial Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The declaration came as revelations from a protection watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have increased dramatically in the past year, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Framework

Under the amendments, the government will allow designated AI developers and child protection organizations to examine AI systems – the foundational technology for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have sufficient safeguards to prevent them from producing depictions of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about preventing exploitation before it happens," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under strict conditions, can now identify the danger in AI models promptly."

Addressing Legal Obstacles

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

This law is aimed at preventing that issue by enabling to halt the production of those materials at their origin.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the government as modifications to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, producing or distributing AI systems designed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Consequences

This week, the minister toured the London headquarters of a children's helpline and heard a mock-up call to counsellors featuring a account of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit deepfake of himself, created using AI.

"When I learn about children facing extortion online, it is a cause of intense frustration in me and justified concern amongst families," he stated.

Concerning Statistics

A leading online safety foundation stated that cases of AI-generated abuse content – such as online pages that may contain numerous files – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of the most severe content – the most serious form of abuse – rose from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The legislative amendment could "represent a crucial step to ensure AI tools are safe before they are released," commented the head of the online safety organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a few clicks, providing offenders the ability to make potentially endless amounts of sophisticated, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she continued. "Content which additionally commodifies victims' suffering, and makes young people, especially girls, less safe both online and offline."

Support Session Data

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

• Using AI to rate body size, physique and looks
• AI assistants discouraging young people from talking to safe adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Digital extortion using AI-faked images

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

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 interactions were connected with mental health and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing AI assistants for assistance and AI therapeutic applications.