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Technology companies and child protection agencies will receive authority to evaluate whether AI systems can produce child abuse images under new British legislation.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Illegal Content

The announcement coincided with revelations from a safety watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the last twelve months, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Structure

Under the changes, the authorities will allow approved AI developers and child protection organizations to examine AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and image generators – and verify they have sufficient protective measures to prevent them from producing depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about preventing abuse before it occurs," stated Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under strict protocols, can now identify the risk in AI models early."

Addressing Legal Challenges

The changes have been implemented because it is illegal to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI creators and others 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 preventing that issue by helping to halt the production of those images at their origin.

Legislative Structure

The changes are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI systems developed to generate exploitative content.

Real-World Impact

This recently, the minister visited the London headquarters of Childline and listened to a mock-up conversation to advisors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The interaction portrayed a teenager requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about young people facing blackmail online, it is a cause of intense frustration in me and rightful anger amongst families," he stated.

Alarming Statistics

A leading online safety foundation reported that cases of AI-generated abuse content – such as online pages that may contain multiple files – had significantly increased so far this year.

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

• Girls were overwhelmingly victimized, 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 law change could "represent a vital step to ensure AI tools are secure before they are released," stated the chief executive of the internet monitoring organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be victimised repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving criminals the capability to create possibly limitless quantities of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Content which further commodifies survivors' trauma, and makes children, especially girls, less safe on and off line."

Counseling Interaction Information

Childline also released information of counselling interactions where AI has been referenced. AI-related harms mentioned in the conversations include:

• Employing AI to rate body size, physique and looks
• AI assistants discouraging young people from consulting safe adults about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Online blackmail using AI-faked pictures

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

Fifty percent of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellness, encompassing utilizing AI assistants for support and AI therapy applications.