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Tech firms and child safety organizations will receive permission to evaluate whether artificial intelligence tools can generate child exploitation images under new British laws.

Substantial Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement came as revelations from a protection monitoring body 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 Legal Framework

Under the changes, the government will permit designated AI companies and child safety organizations to inspect AI models – the underlying technology for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have adequate protective measures to prevent them from creating depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Ultimately about stopping abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Experts, under rigorous protocols, can now identify the danger in AI models promptly."

Addressing Regulatory Obstacles

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

This law is designed to averting that issue by helping to stop the production of those images at source.

Legal Structure

The amendments are being added by the authorities as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also implementing a ban on owning, creating or sharing AI systems developed to create child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

This week, the official toured the London headquarters of Childline and heard a simulated conversation to counsellors involving a account of AI-based abuse. The interaction portrayed a adolescent requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

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

Alarming Statistics

A prominent internet monitoring organization reported that instances of AI-generated abuse material – such as webpages that may contain multiple files – had more than doubled so far this year.

Cases of the most severe content – the gravest form of abuse – rose from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

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

Industry Response

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

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so survivors can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, providing offenders the capability to make potentially limitless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which additionally commodifies survivors' trauma, and renders children, particularly girls, more vulnerable on and off line."

Counseling Interaction Information

Childline also released details of support sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks discussed in the sessions comprise:

• Employing AI to rate weight, body and appearance
• Chatbots discouraging children from talking to safe guardians about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Digital blackmail using AI-faked pictures

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

Fifty percent of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with mental health and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing chatbots for support and AI therapeutic applications.