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Technology companies and child safety agencies will receive authority to assess whether AI systems can generate child exploitation material under recently introduced British legislation.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Material

The announcement coincided with findings from a protection monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have increased dramatically in the last twelve months, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Structure

Under the amendments, the authorities will allow designated AI companies and child safety organizations to inspect AI systems – the underlying technology for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have sufficient safeguards to stop them from creating depictions of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about preventing abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Experts, under strict protocols, can now detect the danger in AI systems promptly."

Addressing Regulatory Obstacles

The amendments have been implemented because it is against the law to create and own CSAM, meaning that AI developers and other parties cannot create such images as part of a testing 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 materials at source.

Legal Structure

The amendments are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on possessing, creating or distributing AI models developed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

This week, the minister visited the London headquarters of Childline and heard a mock-up call to counsellors involving a report of AI-based abuse. The interaction depicted a teenager requesting help after facing extortion using a explicit AI-generated image of himself, created using AI.

"When I learn about children facing extortion online, it is a cause of intense frustration in me and justified concern amongst families," he said.

Alarming Data

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

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

• Girls were predominantly victimized, making up 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to toddlers rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "constitute a crucial step to guarantee AI products are safe before they are released," commented the chief executive of the online safety organization.

"AI tools have made it so victims can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, giving offenders the capability to make potentially endless quantities of advanced, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she continued. "Content which additionally commodifies survivors' suffering, and makes children, especially girls, less safe on and off line."

Support Session Data

Childline also released details of support interactions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related risks mentioned in the sessions include:

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, body and appearance
• AI assistants discouraging children from consulting trusted guardians about abuse
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, Childline conducted 367 counselling interactions where AI, chatbots and related terms were mentioned, significantly more as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were connected with mental health and wellbeing, encompassing using chatbots for support and AI therapy apps.