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Technology companies and child safety agencies will be granted permission to evaluate whether artificial intelligence tools can generate child abuse images under recently introduced British laws.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Harmful Material

The announcement coincided with findings from a protection watchdog 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 Legal Structure

Under the amendments, the authorities will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to prevent them from producing depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Fundamentally about preventing abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Specialists, under strict protocols, can now identify the risk in AI systems early."

Tackling Legal Obstacles

The changes have been introduced because it is against the law to produce and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot create such content as part of a testing regime. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before addressing it.

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

Legislative Framework

The amendments are being introduced by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a ban on owning, producing or sharing AI models developed to create exploitative content.

Practical Consequences

This recently, the minister visited the London base of a children's helpline and listened to a simulated call to advisors involving a account of AI-based abuse. The call depicted a teenager seeking help after being blackmailed using a sexualised AI-generated image of himself, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about children experiencing extortion online, it is a source of intense frustration in me and rightful concern amongst families," he said.

Concerning Statistics

A prominent online safety organization stated that cases of AI-generated exploitation material – such as online pages that may contain multiple images – had more than doubled so far this year.

Instances of the most severe material – the gravest form of abuse – increased from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

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

Sector Response

The legislative amendment could "represent a crucial step to ensure AI products are secure before they are launched," commented the chief executive of the online safety organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a simple actions, giving offenders the capability to make potentially endless amounts of sophisticated, lifelike exploitative content," she continued. "Material which additionally commodifies victims' trauma, and makes children, particularly girls, more vulnerable on and off line."

Support Interaction Data

The children's helpline also released information of counselling interactions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms discussed in the conversations include:

• Using AI to evaluate body size, body and appearance
• AI assistants discouraging young people from talking to safe adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures

Between April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, chatbots and associated topics were discussed, four times as many as in the same period last year.

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were related to mental health and wellbeing, encompassing using chatbots for assistance and AI therapeutic apps.