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Tech firms and child safety organizations will receive permission to assess whether artificial intelligence systems can produce child abuse images under new UK laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The declaration came as revelations from a safety watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the last twelve months, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Legal Structure

Under the changes, the government will allow designated AI companies and child protection groups to inspect AI models – the foundational technology for conversational AI and visual AI tools – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about preventing exploitation before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Specialists, under rigorous protocols, can now identify the risk in AI systems early."

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

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

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

Legislative Framework

The changes are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, producing or distributing AI models designed to create exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This recently, the minister toured the London base of a children's helpline and listened to a simulated call to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The interaction depicted a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

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

Concerning Data

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

Cases of the most severe material – the most serious form of exploitation – increased from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The law change could "constitute a vital step to ensure AI products are secure before they are released," stated the chief executive of the internet monitoring organization.

"AI tools have made it so victims can be victimised all over again with just a simple actions, providing criminals the ability to create potentially endless quantities of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Material which additionally exploits survivors' suffering, and makes young people, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Counseling Interaction Information

The children's helpline also released details of counselling sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related harms discussed in the conversations include:

• Using AI to rate weight, body and looks
• AI assistants dissuading children from consulting trusted guardians about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Online extortion using AI-manipulated pictures

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

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellness, encompassing using chatbots for support and AI therapeutic apps.