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Tech firms and child protection agencies will receive authority to evaluate whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child exploitation images under recently introduced UK laws.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Illegal Material

The declaration coincided with revelations from a safety monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the past year, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Regulatory Framework

Under the changes, the government will allow designated AI developers and child protection organizations to inspect AI models – the foundational systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have adequate protective measures to prevent them from producing images of child exploitation.

"Fundamentally about preventing abuse before it occurs," declared the minister for AI and online safety, adding: "Specialists, under rigorous conditions, can now identify the danger in AI models early."

Tackling Legal Challenges

The changes have been introduced because it is against the law to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot generate such content as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it.

This legislation is aimed at averting that issue by helping to halt the creation of those images at their origin.

Legal Structure

The changes are being added by the authorities as modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a ban on owning, producing or distributing AI systems designed to create child sexual abuse material.

Practical Impact

This week, the official visited the London headquarters of Childline and listened to a simulated call to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based exploitation. The call depicted a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a sexualised deepfake of himself, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about young people facing blackmail online, it is a cause of extreme frustration in me and justified anger amongst families," he said.

Concerning Data

A leading internet monitoring organization stated that instances of AI-generated exploitation content – such as webpages that may contain multiple files – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of category A content – the most serious form of abuse – increased from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Girls were predominantly victimized, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI depictions in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

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

"AI tools have enabled so survivors can be victimised repeatedly with just a few clicks, giving criminals the ability to make potentially limitless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she continued. "Material which further exploits survivors' trauma, and makes children, especially girls, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Counseling Session Data

The children's helpline also released details of counselling sessions where AI has been referenced. AI-related risks discussed in the conversations include:

• Using AI to rate weight, physique and appearance
• Chatbots discouraging young people from talking to safe guardians about harm
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated images

Between April and September this year, Childline delivered 367 support sessions where AI, conversational AI and related topics were mentioned, four times as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 interactions were connected with mental health and wellbeing, including using AI assistants for assistance and AI therapeutic apps.