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Technology companies and child protection agencies will be granted authority to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can generate child exploitation material under new British laws.

Substantial Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The declaration coincided with revelations from a safety monitoring body showing that cases of AI-generated CSAM have increased dramatically in the past year, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Legal Structure

Under the amendments, the government will permit designated AI companies and child protection organizations to examine AI models – the underlying technology for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have sufficient safeguards to prevent them from creating depictions of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about preventing abuse before it occurs," stated Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Experts, under rigorous conditions, can now detect the risk in AI systems early."

Tackling Legal Challenges

The changes have been implemented because it is illegal to produce and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot generate such images as part of a testing process. Previously, officials had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

This legislation is aimed at preventing that problem by helping to halt the production of those images at their origin.

Legal Structure

The changes are being added by the government as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a ban on owning, creating or distributing AI models developed to create exploitative content.

Real-World Impact

This recently, the minister visited the London base of a children's helpline and heard a simulated call to counsellors featuring a account of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a explicit deepfake of themselves, created using AI.

"When I hear about children experiencing blackmail online, it is a cause of extreme frustration in me and rightful concern amongst parents," he said.

Concerning Data

A leading internet monitoring organization stated that cases of AI-generated abuse content – such as webpages that may contain multiple files – had significantly increased so far this year.

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

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Depictions of newborns to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Response

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

"AI tools have made it so survivors can be victimised repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving offenders the capability to create possibly endless amounts of advanced, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she continued. "Content which additionally commodifies victims' suffering, and makes young people, particularly female children, less safe both online and offline."

Support Interaction Data

The children's helpline also released details of support sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks mentioned in the sessions comprise:

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, body and looks
• AI assistants discouraging children from consulting safe adults about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Digital blackmail using AI-faked images

Between April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, chatbots and associated terms were discussed, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to mental health and wellness, including utilizing chatbots for support and AI therapy apps.