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Tech firms and child protection agencies will receive authority to assess whether AI tools can produce child abuse images under recently introduced British legislation.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement coincided with findings from a safety watchdog showing that cases 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 amendments, the government will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI systems – the foundational technology for conversational AI and image generators – and verify they have sufficient safeguards to stop them from producing images of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about stopping abuse before it occurs," declared the minister for AI and online safety, noting: "Specialists, under rigorous conditions, can now detect the risk in AI systems early."

Tackling Regulatory Obstacles

The changes have been implemented because it is against the law to produce and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot generate such content as part of a evaluation regime. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before dealing with it.

This legislation is designed to averting that problem by enabling to stop the creation of those images at source.

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the authorities as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on possessing, producing or sharing AI models developed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This recently, the minister visited the London headquarters of a children's helpline and listened to a mock-up conversation to counsellors involving a report of AI-based exploitation. The interaction 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 cause of extreme anger in me and justified anger amongst families," he stated.

Alarming Data

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

Cases of the most severe material – the most serious form of abuse – increased from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.

• Female children were predominantly targeted, accounting for 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Depictions of infants to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Reaction

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

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving offenders the ability to create potentially endless quantities of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she added. "Content which additionally exploits survivors' suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, less safe both online and offline."

Support Interaction Data

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

• Employing AI to rate body size, body and appearance
• Chatbots dissuading children from consulting safe adults about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Digital blackmail using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, Childline delivered 367 support interactions where AI, conversational AI and related terms were mentioned, four times as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with mental health and wellness, encompassing utilizing chatbots for support and AI therapeutic applications.