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Technology companies and child safety agencies will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI tools can generate child abuse images under new UK laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Material

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

Updated Regulatory Structure

Under the changes, the government will allow approved AI companies and child safety groups to inspect AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have sufficient safeguards to stop them from creating images of child exploitation.

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

Tackling Legal Challenges

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

This legislation is designed to averting that problem by enabling to stop the production of those images at their origin.

Legal Framework

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

Practical Consequences

This week, the minister toured the London headquarters of a children's helpline and heard a simulated conversation to advisors featuring a report of AI-based exploitation. The call depicted a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a explicit deepfake of themselves, created using AI.

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

Alarming Statistics

A leading internet monitoring organization reported that instances of AI-generated exploitation material – such as online pages that may include numerous images – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of the most severe material – the gravest form of abuse – rose from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Depictions of newborns to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

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

"AI tools have enabled so victims can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, giving criminals the capability to create potentially limitless quantities of sophisticated, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which additionally exploits victims' suffering, and makes children, particularly female children, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Counseling Session Data

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

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, body and appearance
• Chatbots dissuading children from talking to safe adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Online blackmail using AI-faked pictures

During April and September this year, Childline delivered 367 support sessions where AI, chatbots and related terms were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellness, including utilizing chatbots for assistance and AI therapy applications.