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Technology companies and child protection agencies will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI systems can produce child abuse material under new UK laws.

Substantial Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The declaration came as revelations from a safety monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have increased dramatically in the last twelve months, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Legal Framework

Under the changes, the government will permit designated AI developers and child safety groups to examine AI models – the foundational systems for chatbots and image generators – and verify they have sufficient safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.

"Ultimately about stopping exploitation before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Experts, under rigorous conditions, can now detect the danger in AI models early."

Tackling Legal Obstacles

The amendments have been introduced because it is illegal to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI developers and other parties cannot generate such images as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

This legislation is aimed at averting that problem by helping to halt the production of those images at their origin.

Legal Structure

The amendments are being added by the authorities as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a ban on possessing, producing or sharing AI systems developed to create exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This week, the minister visited the London base of a children's helpline and listened to a mock-up conversation to counsellors featuring a account of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a adolescent seeking help after being blackmailed using a sexualised AI-generated image of himself, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about young people facing blackmail online, it is a source of intense frustration in me and rightful concern amongst families," he stated.

Alarming Statistics

A prominent internet monitoring foundation stated that instances of AI-generated abuse material – such as webpages that may contain numerous files – had more than doubled so far this year.

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

• Female children were predominantly victimized, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The legislative amendment could "constitute a crucial step to guarantee AI products are secure before they are launched," commented the chief executive of the internet monitoring organization.

"AI tools have made it so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving criminals the capability to make potentially limitless quantities of advanced, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which additionally exploits victims' trauma, and renders children, particularly female children, less safe on and off line."

Counseling Session Information

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

• Employing AI to rate weight, body and appearance
• AI assistants dissuading young people from talking to safe guardians about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures

Between April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 support sessions where AI, conversational AI and associated 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 related to mental health and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing AI assistants for support and AI therapy applications.