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Tech firms and child protection organizations will be granted authority to evaluate whether AI systems can generate child exploitation material under recently introduced UK legislation.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Content

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

New Legal Framework

Under the changes, the government will allow approved AI developers and child protection groups to inspect AI systems – the underlying technology for chatbots and image generators – and verify they have adequate protective measures to stop them from creating depictions of child exploitation.

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

Addressing Legal Challenges

The amendments have been implemented because it is against the law to create and own CSAM, meaning that AI creators and others cannot generate such content as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it.

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

Legal Structure

The amendments are being added by the government as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, producing or distributing AI systems developed to create exploitative content.

Real-World Consequences

This week, the minister visited the London headquarters of a children's helpline and heard a simulated call to advisors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The call depicted a adolescent seeking help after being blackmailed using a sexualised deepfake of himself, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about children experiencing extortion online, it is a cause of extreme anger in me and justified anger amongst parents," he said.

Concerning Statistics

A prominent internet monitoring foundation stated that cases of AI-generated abuse content – such as webpages that may include multiple files – had more than doubled so far this year.

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

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of newborns to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Reaction

The legislative amendment could "represent a crucial step to ensure AI products are secure before they are released," stated the chief executive of the internet monitoring organization.

"AI tools have enabled so victims can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, providing offenders the capability to make potentially limitless quantities of advanced, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Content which further commodifies victims' suffering, and renders children, especially girls, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Support Session Data

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

• Employing AI to rate weight, body and looks
• Chatbots discouraging children from consulting safe adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Digital blackmail using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 counselling interactions where AI, conversational AI and related terms were mentioned, four times as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were connected with psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, encompassing using AI assistants for assistance and AI therapeutic apps.