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Technology companies and child protection organizations will receive permission to assess whether AI tools can produce child abuse material under recently introduced UK laws.

Substantial Increase in AI-Generated Harmful Material

The declaration came as revelations from a protection watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have increased dramatically in the past year, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Regulatory Structure

Under the changes, the authorities will allow designated AI companies and child safety organizations to inspect AI models – the underlying systems for conversational AI and visual AI tools – and verify they have adequate protective measures to prevent them from producing images of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about stopping exploitation before it occurs," declared the minister for AI and online safety, noting: "Experts, under strict conditions, can now detect the risk in AI models early."

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

The amendments have been implemented because it is against the law to produce and own CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such content as part of a testing regime. Previously, officials had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

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

Legislative Structure

The amendments are being added by the government as revisions to the crime and policing bill, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI models developed to generate exploitative content.

Practical Impact

This week, the minister visited the London base of Childline and heard a mock-up conversation to advisors featuring a account of AI-based abuse. The call portrayed a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

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

Alarming Data

A prominent internet monitoring organization reported that cases of AI-generated abuse material – such as online pages that may include multiple files – had more than doubled so far this year.

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

• Female children were overwhelmingly targeted, accounting for 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Depictions of newborns to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "constitute a crucial step to ensure AI tools are safe before they are released," commented the chief executive of the internet monitoring foundation.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be victimised all over again with just a simple actions, giving offenders the ability to create potentially endless amounts of sophisticated, photorealistic child sexual abuse material," she added. "Content which further commodifies victims' suffering, and makes children, especially female children, more vulnerable on and off line."

Support Session Data

The children's helpline also published details of counselling interactions where AI has been referenced. AI-related harms discussed in the conversations comprise:

• Using AI to evaluate weight, physique and looks
• Chatbots dissuading young people from talking to safe adults about harm
• Being bullied online with AI-generated content
• Digital blackmail using AI-manipulated images

During April and September this year, the helpline delivered 367 support interactions where AI, chatbots and associated topics 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 wellbeing, encompassing using AI assistants for support and AI therapy applications.