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Technology companies and child safety organizations will receive permission to evaluate whether AI tools can produce child abuse images under new UK laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

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

Updated Legal Framework

Under the changes, the government will permit approved AI developers and child safety organizations to inspect AI models – the underlying systems for conversational AI and image generators – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about preventing abuse before it happens," stated Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Experts, under rigorous conditions, can now identify the risk in AI models promptly."

Tackling Regulatory Challenges

The changes have been implemented because it is against the law to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot generate such images as part of a evaluation regime. Until now, officials had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it.

This law is aimed at preventing that problem by helping to halt the production of those images at source.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being added by the authorities as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on possessing, creating or sharing AI models designed to create exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This recently, the official visited the London headquarters of a children's helpline and heard a mock-up conversation to counsellors involving a account of AI-based abuse. The call depicted a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit deepfake of himself, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about children experiencing extortion online, it is a source of intense anger in me and rightful anger amongst parents," he stated.

Concerning Statistics

A prominent online safety foundation stated that instances of AI-generated exploitation content – such as webpages that may contain multiple images – had significantly increased so far this year.

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

• Girls were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The legislative amendment could "represent a vital step to guarantee AI products are safe before they are launched," commented the head of the internet monitoring organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so survivors can be victimised repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving criminals the capability to create possibly limitless quantities of advanced, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Material which further commodifies victims' trauma, and renders young people, especially female children, less safe both online and offline."

Counseling Interaction Information

Childline also released information of support sessions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms mentioned in the conversations include:

• Using AI to rate body size, physique and appearance
• AI assistants dissuading young people from talking to trusted adults about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Digital blackmail using AI-faked images

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

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with mental health and wellness, encompassing using chatbots for assistance and AI therapeutic apps.