British Tech Companies and Child Protection Agencies to Examine AI's Ability to Generate Exploitation Content

Tech firms and child protection agencies will receive authority to assess whether AI systems can produce child exploitation material under new UK laws.

Significant Increase in AI-Generated Harmful Content

The declaration came as revelations from a protection watchdog showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled 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 developers and child protection organizations to inspect AI systems – the underlying systems for chatbots and image generators – and ensure they have adequate safeguards to stop them from creating depictions of child sexual abuse.

"Ultimately about preventing exploitation before it happens," declared the minister for AI and online safety, adding: "Experts, under rigorous conditions, can now detect the danger in AI models promptly."

Tackling Legal Challenges

The changes have been introduced because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and others cannot create such content as part of a evaluation process. Previously, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it.

This law is aimed at averting that problem by enabling to stop the production of those materials at their origin.

Legislative Structure

The amendments are being added by the authorities as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also implementing a prohibition on owning, producing or distributing AI systems developed to generate child sexual abuse material.

Real-World Impact

This week, the minister toured the London base of Childline and listened to a mock-up conversation to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based abuse. The interaction portrayed a adolescent requesting help after facing extortion using a sexualised deepfake of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I hear about children facing extortion online, it is a source of extreme frustration in me and justified anger amongst parents," he stated.

Alarming Data

A leading internet monitoring foundation stated that cases of AI-generated exploitation content – such as online pages that may include multiple images – had more than doubled so far this year.

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

• Girls were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of prohibited AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Response

The law change could "represent a crucial step to ensure AI tools are safe before they are launched," stated the head of the online safety foundation.

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, providing offenders the ability to make possibly endless amounts of sophisticated, photorealistic exploitative content," she continued. "Content which further commodifies victims' suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Counseling Interaction Data

Childline also published details of counselling interactions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related risks mentioned in the sessions comprise:

• Using AI to rate body size, body and looks
• Chatbots discouraging children from talking to safe adults about harm
• Being bullied online with AI-generated material
• Online extortion using AI-faked pictures

During April and September this year, the helpline conducted 367 support interactions where AI, conversational AI and associated topics were discussed, significantly more as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were related to mental health and wellness, including using AI assistants for assistance and AI therapeutic apps.