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Tech firms and child safety organizations will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI tools can produce child abuse material under recently introduced British legislation.

Substantial Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The declaration coincided with revelations from a safety watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have increased dramatically in the last twelve months, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Legal Structure

Under the amendments, the government will permit approved AI companies and child protection organizations to examine AI models – the foundational technology for chatbots and image generators – and verify they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from producing images of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping abuse before it happens," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Specialists, under strict conditions, can now identify the danger in AI systems early."

Addressing Legal Challenges

The changes have been implemented because it is against the law to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI creators and others cannot generate such images as part of a testing 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 their origin.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the government as modifications to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, producing or distributing AI models developed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Consequences

This week, the minister toured the London base of a children's helpline and heard a simulated conversation to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a explicit AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

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

Alarming Statistics

A leading internet monitoring foundation stated that instances of AI-generated abuse content – such as webpages that may contain multiple images – had more than doubled 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 predominantly targeted, making up 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Depictions of infants to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "represent a vital step to guarantee AI products are secure before they are released," stated the chief executive of the online safety foundation.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so survivors can be victimised repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving criminals the capability to make potentially endless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she continued. "Material which further commodifies victims' suffering, and makes children, especially female children, less safe both online and offline."

Support Session Information

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

• Using AI to rate weight, body and looks
• Chatbots dissuading young people from talking to safe guardians about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 counselling interactions where AI, conversational AI and associated terms were discussed, four times as many as in the same period last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellness, encompassing using chatbots for support and AI therapeutic apps.