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Tech firms and child protection agencies will receive permission to assess whether AI systems can produce child abuse material under new UK legislation.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement came as findings from a safety monitoring body 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.

Updated Legal Framework

Under the changes, the government will allow approved AI developers and child protection groups to inspect AI models – the foundational systems for conversational AI and visual AI tools – and verify they have adequate safeguards to stop them from producing depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Ultimately about stopping exploitation before it happens," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under rigorous conditions, can now detect the risk in AI systems early."

Addressing Legal Obstacles

The amendments have been implemented because it is against the law to create and own CSAM, meaning that AI developers and other parties cannot generate such images as part of a evaluation regime. Previously, authorities had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

This legislation is aimed at averting that issue by helping to stop the production of those images at source.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI models developed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Practical Consequences

This week, the official visited the London base of a children's helpline and listened to a mock-up call to counsellors involving a account of AI-based abuse. The interaction depicted a teenager seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit deepfake of himself, created using AI.

"When I learn about children experiencing extortion online, it is a cause of extreme frustration in me and justified anger amongst families," he said.

Concerning Statistics

A prominent online safety organization reported that instances of AI-generated abuse material – such as online pages that may include multiple images – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of category A material – the gravest form of exploitation – increased from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

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

Industry Response

The legislative amendment could "represent a crucial step to guarantee AI tools are safe before they are launched," commented the head of the internet monitoring foundation.

"AI tools have made it so victims can be victimised repeatedly with just a few clicks, giving offenders the capability to make possibly limitless amounts of advanced, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she added. "Material which further commodifies survivors' trauma, and renders children, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Support Interaction Data

The children's helpline also released information of support sessions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms discussed in the conversations comprise:

• Employing AI to rate body size, body and looks
• AI assistants dissuading young people from talking to trusted guardians about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Online extortion using AI-faked pictures

During April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 counselling sessions where AI, chatbots and associated topics were discussed, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Fifty percent of the references of AI in the 2025 interactions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing chatbots for assistance and AI therapy apps.