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Technology companies and child safety agencies will receive permission to assess whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child exploitation images under recently introduced British laws.

Substantial Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Content

The declaration coincided with findings from a protection watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have increased dramatically in the past year, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Framework

Under the amendments, the government will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to inspect AI systems – the foundational systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.

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

Addressing Legal Obstacles

The changes have been implemented because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such images as part of a evaluation process. Until now, officials had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

This legislation is aimed at averting that problem by enabling to stop the production of those materials at their origin.

Legal Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the government as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a ban on possessing, producing or distributing AI systems developed to generate exploitative content.

Real-World Consequences

This week, the official visited the London base of Childline and listened to a mock-up call to advisors involving a report of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a teenager seeking help after facing extortion using a explicit AI-generated image of themselves, created using AI.

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

Alarming Statistics

A prominent online safety organization reported that cases of AI-generated abuse material – such as webpages that may contain numerous files – had significantly increased so far this year.

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

• Female children were predominantly victimized, making up 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of newborns to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The law change could "represent a vital step to guarantee AI products are secure before they are launched," commented the chief executive of the online safety organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so victims can be targeted all over again with just a simple actions, providing offenders the capability to make potentially limitless amounts of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she added. "Material which further exploits victims' suffering, and renders children, especially girls, less safe both online and offline."

Counseling Session Information

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

• Using AI to rate weight, physique and looks
• Chatbots discouraging children from talking to trusted guardians about harm
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures

Between April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, chatbots and related terms were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to mental health and wellbeing, encompassing using chatbots for support and AI therapy applications.