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Technology companies and child safety agencies will be granted permission to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under new UK laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Material

The announcement came as revelations from a safety watchdog 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 authorities will permit designated AI developers and child protection groups to inspect AI models – the underlying systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to stop them from producing depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping abuse before it happens," stated Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Experts, under strict protocols, can now detect the risk in AI models early."

Addressing 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 create such images as part of a testing process. Previously, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it.

This law is aimed at preventing that issue by helping to stop the creation of those images at source.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being added by the government as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on possessing, producing or distributing AI models designed to create exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This recently, the minister toured the London base of Childline and listened to a simulated call to advisors featuring a account of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a adolescent requesting help after being blackmailed using a sexualised AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

"When I hear about children facing extortion online, it is a source of intense anger in me and rightful anger amongst families," he said.

Alarming Statistics

A leading online safety organization reported that instances of AI-generated exploitation material – such as webpages that may contain multiple images – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of the most severe material – the gravest form of exploitation – increased from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were predominantly victimized, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Depictions of infants to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The law change could "represent a crucial step to ensure AI tools are safe before they are launched," commented the chief executive of the internet monitoring foundation.

"AI tools have made it so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, giving offenders the capability to create possibly endless quantities of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she added. "Material which further exploits victims' suffering, and makes children, particularly female children, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Counseling Interaction Data

Childline also published details of counselling sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related harms mentioned in the sessions comprise:

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

Between April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 counselling sessions where AI, chatbots and associated terms were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, encompassing utilizing chatbots for assistance and AI therapy applications.