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Tech firms and child protection agencies will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI tools can generate child exploitation material under new British legislation.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The declaration coincided with revelations from a protection watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the past year, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Legal Structure

Under the changes, the authorities will allow approved AI developers and child safety groups to inspect AI models – the foundational technology for conversational AI and image generators – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to stop them from producing images of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping abuse before it occurs," stated the minister for AI and online safety, noting: "Experts, under strict conditions, can now identify the danger in AI models early."

Addressing Legal Obstacles

The changes have been introduced 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. Previously, officials had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

This law is aimed at averting that problem by enabling to halt the creation of those materials at their origin.

Legal Structure

The changes are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, creating or distributing AI systems developed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

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 abuse. The call portrayed a adolescent seeking help after being blackmailed using a sexualised deepfake of himself, created using AI.

"When I hear about young people experiencing extortion online, it is a cause of extreme frustration in me and rightful concern amongst parents," he stated.

Alarming Data

A leading online safety foundation stated that cases of AI-generated exploitation content – such as webpages that may contain numerous images – had more than doubled so far this year.

Cases of category A material – the gravest form of exploitation – rose from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Girls were overwhelmingly victimized, accounting for 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Reaction

The law change could "constitute a vital step to ensure AI products are safe before they are released," commented the head of the internet monitoring foundation.

"AI tools have enabled so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, providing criminals the ability to create potentially limitless quantities of advanced, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Content which additionally commodifies survivors' trauma, and renders children, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Counseling Interaction Data

The children's helpline also published details of counselling interactions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms mentioned in the conversations comprise:

• Using AI to rate weight, body and looks
• Chatbots discouraging children from consulting safe adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Online extortion using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 counselling interactions where AI, chatbots and related topics were discussed, 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 wellness, encompassing utilizing AI assistants for support and AI therapy apps.