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Tech firms and child protection organizations will receive permission to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can generate child abuse material under new British legislation.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Content

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

New Legal Structure

Under the changes, the government will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI systems – the foundational systems for conversational AI and visual AI tools – and ensure they have sufficient protective measures to stop them from creating images of child exploitation.

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

Tackling Regulatory Obstacles

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

This legislation is aimed at preventing that issue by helping to stop the creation of those materials at source.

Legislative Framework

The changes are being added by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on possessing, producing or sharing AI systems developed to create child sexual abuse material.

Real-World Consequences

This week, the minister visited the London base of Childline and heard a simulated conversation to advisors involving a account of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a teenager requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised AI-generated image of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about children experiencing extortion online, it is a source of extreme anger in me and justified anger amongst parents," he said.

Concerning Data

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

Instances of category A material – the gravest form of exploitation – rose from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were predominantly victimized, accounting for 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Depictions of infants to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The law change could "constitute a crucial step to guarantee AI tools are safe before they are launched," stated the head of the online safety organization.

"AI tools have made it so survivors can be targeted repeatedly with just a few clicks, providing offenders the capability to make potentially endless quantities of advanced, lifelike exploitative content," she continued. "Content which additionally exploits victims' trauma, and renders children, particularly female children, less safe both online and offline."

Counseling Session Data

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

• Using AI to evaluate body size, physique and looks
• AI assistants dissuading young people from talking to trusted guardians about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Digital extortion using AI-manipulated pictures

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

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to mental health and wellness, including using chatbots for support and AI therapeutic applications.