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Tech firms and child protection agencies will receive authority to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under new British laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Material

The declaration coincided with revelations from a safety watchdog showing that cases of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the past year, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Structure

Under the amendments, the government will allow designated AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI systems – the underlying systems for conversational AI and image generators – and verify they have adequate safeguards to stop them from creating depictions of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about stopping abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Experts, under rigorous protocols, can now detect the risk in AI models early."

Addressing Regulatory Obstacles

The amendments have been introduced because it is illegal to create and own CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot generate such content as part of a evaluation regime. Previously, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before dealing with it.

This law is designed to preventing that problem by helping to halt the creation of those materials at source.

Legislative Framework

The changes are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI models designed to create child sexual abuse material.

Real-World Impact

This recently, the minister toured the London base of a children's helpline and heard a simulated conversation to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit AI-generated image of themselves, constructed 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 leading internet monitoring foundation stated that cases of AI-generated exploitation material – such as online pages that may include multiple files – had more than doubled so far this year.

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

• Girls were overwhelmingly targeted, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Depictions of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

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

"AI tools have enabled so victims can be victimised repeatedly with just a few clicks, providing offenders the ability to create possibly endless quantities of advanced, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which further exploits survivors' suffering, and makes children, especially girls, less safe on and off line."

Counseling Session Information

Childline also published information of support sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks mentioned in the sessions include:

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, body and appearance
• Chatbots dissuading young people from consulting safe guardians about harm
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Online extortion using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, conversational AI and related topics were discussed, four times as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to mental health and wellbeing, including using AI assistants for assistance and AI therapy apps.