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Tech firms and child protection agencies will be granted permission to assess whether artificial intelligence systems can generate child abuse images under new British legislation.

Substantial Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The announcement coincided with findings from a protection monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the last twelve months, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Regulatory Structure

Under the changes, the authorities will permit designated AI companies and child safety organizations to inspect AI systems – the foundational systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have adequate safeguards to stop them from producing depictions of child exploitation.

"Fundamentally about stopping abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under strict protocols, can now identify the risk in AI models promptly."

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

The changes have been introduced because it is against the law to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such images as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

This legislation is aimed at averting that issue by helping to halt the production of those images at source.

Legal Structure

The changes are being introduced by the authorities as modifications to the crime and policing bill, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI models developed to create child sexual abuse material.

Real-World Consequences

This recently, the official visited the London headquarters of Childline and listened to a mock-up conversation to advisors involving a account of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit deepfake of themselves, created using AI.

"When I learn about young people facing blackmail online, it is a source of intense frustration in me and justified anger amongst families," he said.

Alarming Data

A leading internet monitoring foundation reported that cases of AI-generated exploitation material – such as webpages that may contain multiple images – had more than doubled so far this year.

Cases of the most severe material – the gravest form of exploitation – increased from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Female children were predominantly victimized, making up 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of newborns to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "constitute a vital step to guarantee AI tools are secure before they are released," stated the head of the internet monitoring foundation.

"AI tools have made it so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a few clicks, providing offenders the ability to make possibly limitless amounts of advanced, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which further commodifies survivors' trauma, and renders children, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Support Interaction Data

The children's helpline also published information of counselling sessions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related risks mentioned in the conversations include:

• Employing AI to rate weight, physique and appearance
• AI assistants dissuading children from talking to safe adults about harm
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Online extortion using AI-faked pictures

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

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing chatbots for support and AI therapy applications.