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Tech firms and child safety agencies will receive permission to evaluate whether AI tools can produce child exploitation images under recently introduced UK laws.

Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Content

The announcement came as findings from a safety monitoring body showing that reports of AI-generated CSAM have more than doubled in the last twelve months, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

Updated Regulatory Framework

Under the amendments, the authorities will permit approved AI companies and child safety groups to inspect AI systems – the foundational systems for chatbots and visual AI tools – and verify they have sufficient protective measures to prevent them from producing images of child exploitation.

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

Addressing Regulatory Challenges

The amendments have been implemented because it is illegal to produce and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot create such images as part of a evaluation regime. Until now, authorities had to delay action until AI-generated CSAM was uploaded online before addressing it.

This legislation is designed to preventing that problem by enabling to stop the creation of those images at their origin.

Legal Structure

The changes are being added by the government as revisions to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI models developed to create exploitative content.

Real-World Consequences

This recently, the official visited the London base of Childline and heard a simulated conversation to advisors involving a report of AI-based abuse. The call depicted a adolescent seeking help after facing extortion using a sexualised AI-generated image of themselves, constructed using AI.

"When I learn about young people experiencing extortion online, it is a cause of intense frustration in me and justified concern amongst families," he stated.

Concerning Data

A prominent internet monitoring foundation reported that cases of AI-generated abuse material – such as online pages that may contain multiple files – had significantly increased so far this year.

Instances of category A content – the gravest form of abuse – rose from 2,621 visual files to 3,086.

• Female children were overwhelmingly victimized, accounting for 94% of illegal AI images in 2025
• Portrayals of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025

Industry Reaction

The law change could "constitute a vital step to ensure AI products are safe before they are launched," stated the chief executive of the online safety organization.

"Artificial intelligence systems have made it so victims can be targeted all over again with just a few clicks, providing offenders the capability to create possibly limitless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike exploitative content," she added. "Content which further exploits victims' suffering, and renders young people, particularly girls, more vulnerable both online and offline."

Support Interaction Information

Childline also published information of counselling sessions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related harms mentioned in the sessions comprise:

• Employing AI to evaluate body size, physique and appearance
• Chatbots discouraging young people from talking to trusted adults about abuse
• Facing harassment online with AI-generated material
• Online extortion using AI-manipulated pictures

During April and September this year, Childline delivered 367 support interactions where AI, conversational AI and associated topics were discussed, four times as many as in the equivalent timeframe last year.

Half of the references of AI in the 2025 interactions were related to mental health and wellness, including using chatbots for assistance and AI therapy applications.