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Tech firms and child safety organizations will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI tools can generate child abuse images under new British legislation.

Substantial Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The announcement coincided with findings 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.

Updated Regulatory Framework

Under the amendments, the authorities will permit designated AI developers and child protection organizations to examine AI models – the underlying systems for chatbots and image generators – and ensure they have sufficient safeguards to prevent them from producing depictions of child exploitation.

"Fundamentally about stopping exploitation before it happens," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Specialists, under rigorous protocols, can now detect the risk in AI systems promptly."

Addressing Legal Obstacles

The changes have been implemented because it is against the law to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot generate such content as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

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

Legislative Framework

The changes are being added by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a ban on owning, creating or distributing AI models designed to create child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

This week, the official toured the London base of a children's helpline and heard a simulated conversation to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The interaction depicted a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a explicit deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about young people experiencing blackmail online, it is a cause of intense anger in me and justified concern amongst parents," he stated.

Alarming Data

A prominent online safety organization stated 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 category A content – the most serious form of abuse – increased from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Girls were predominantly targeted, accounting for 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of newborns to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "constitute a vital step to ensure AI products are secure before they are launched," commented the chief executive of the online safety foundation.

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a few clicks, giving offenders the capability to make potentially endless amounts of advanced, photorealistic exploitative content," she added. "Content which additionally exploits survivors' suffering, and renders young people, especially girls, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Counseling Session Information

Childline also published information of counselling sessions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms discussed in the sessions comprise:

• Using AI to evaluate body size, physique and looks
• AI assistants discouraging children from consulting safe guardians about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Online extortion using AI-faked pictures

Between April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, chatbots and associated terms were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellness, including using chatbots for assistance and AI therapy applications.