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Technology companies and child safety organizations will receive authority to evaluate whether AI systems can generate child abuse images under new UK legislation.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The announcement came as revelations from a safety 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 Framework

Under the amendments, the government will allow designated AI developers and child protection groups to inspect AI systems – the foundational systems for conversational AI and visual AI tools – and ensure they have adequate protective measures to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping abuse before it happens," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under strict protocols, can now detect the danger in AI systems promptly."

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

The changes have been implemented because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot create such images as part of a testing regime. Previously, authorities had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

This law is designed to preventing that problem by helping to halt the production of those images at their origin.

Legislative Framework

The changes are being introduced by the government as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on possessing, creating or sharing AI models developed to create exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This week, the official visited the London headquarters of a children's helpline and listened to a simulated call to counsellors featuring a account of AI-based abuse. The interaction depicted a adolescent requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about children facing blackmail online, it is a cause of intense frustration in me and justified anger amongst parents," he said.

Concerning Data

A leading internet monitoring organization stated that cases of AI-generated exploitation material – such as webpages that may contain multiple images – had significantly increased so far this year.

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

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

Sector Response

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

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so victims can be victimised all over again with just a simple actions, giving offenders the capability to create potentially endless quantities of advanced, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which additionally commodifies survivors' trauma, and renders young people, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Support Interaction Information

Childline also published details of counselling sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related harms discussed in the conversations comprise:

• Employing AI to rate weight, physique and looks
• AI assistants dissuading children from talking to trusted guardians about harm
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Digital extortion using AI-faked pictures

Between April and September this year, the helpline delivered 367 support sessions where AI, chatbots and associated terms were mentioned, four times as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, including utilizing AI assistants for support and AI therapy apps.