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Tech firms and child safety agencies will be granted authority to assess whether artificial intelligence systems can generate child abuse material under recently introduced UK legislation.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Harmful Content

The declaration came as findings from a safety monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the past year, rising from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

New Regulatory Structure

Under the changes, the authorities will permit approved AI companies and child protection groups to examine AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and image generators – and verify they have adequate safeguards to stop them from creating depictions of child exploitation.

"Ultimately about stopping abuse before it occurs," declared Kanishka Narayan, noting: "Experts, under strict protocols, can now identify the risk in AI systems promptly."

Tackling Regulatory 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 generate such content as part of a testing process. Previously, officials had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before dealing with it.

This law is designed to preventing that issue by helping to stop the production of those materials 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 possessing, producing or distributing AI models developed to create exploitative content.

Real-World Consequences

This week, the official visited the London base of Childline and listened to a simulated call to advisors featuring a account of AI-based exploitation. The call portrayed a teenager requesting help after being blackmailed using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about young people facing extortion online, it is a source of intense frustration in me and rightful concern amongst parents," he stated.

Alarming Statistics

A leading internet monitoring foundation 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 content – the gravest form of abuse – rose from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Girls were predominantly victimized, making up 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Depictions of newborns to toddlers increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Reaction

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

"AI tools have made it so victims can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, giving offenders the ability to make potentially limitless amounts of advanced, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Material which additionally exploits survivors' trauma, and renders children, especially female children, less safe both online and offline."

Counseling Interaction Data

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

• Employing AI to evaluate weight, physique and looks
• AI assistants discouraging children from talking to safe adults about harm
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated content
• Online blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures

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

Fifty percent of the mentions of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, including using chatbots for assistance and AI therapy applications.