🔗 Share this article British Tech Companies and Child Safety Agencies to Examine AI's Capability to Create Abuse Content Tech firms and child protection organizations will be granted permission to assess whether AI systems can generate child exploitation material under new British laws. Significant Rise in AI-Generated Harmful Content The declaration came as revelations from a safety monitoring body showing that cases of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the last twelve months, growing from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025. New Legal Structure Under the changes, the government will allow designated AI companies and child safety organizations to examine AI systems – the underlying technology for chatbots and image generators – and ensure they have sufficient safeguards to stop them from creating depictions of child exploitation. "Ultimately about preventing exploitation before it happens," stated Kanishka Narayan, adding: "Experts, under strict conditions, can now identify the danger in AI models early." Tackling Regulatory Challenges The changes have been introduced because it is against the law to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI creators and other parties cannot generate such images as part of a testing process. Until now, authorities had to wait until AI-generated CSAM was published online before dealing with it. This legislation is designed to averting 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 modifications to the criminal justice legislation, which is also establishing a prohibition on owning, creating or sharing AI systems developed to create child sexual abuse material. Practical Impact This week, the minister visited the London base of a children's helpline and heard a simulated conversation to advisors involving a account of AI-based exploitation. The interaction portrayed a adolescent requesting help after facing extortion using a explicit AI-generated image of himself, created using AI. "When I learn about young people facing extortion online, it is a cause of intense anger in me and justified concern amongst parents," he said. Alarming Data A prominent online safety foundation stated that instances of AI-generated abuse material – such as online pages that may include numerous files – 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. Girls were overwhelmingly targeted, accounting for 94% of illegal AI depictions in 2025 Depictions of infants to two-year-olds increased from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025 Industry Response The law change could "constitute a crucial step to ensure AI tools are secure before they are launched," stated the chief executive of the internet monitoring foundation. "Artificial intelligence systems have enabled so victims can be targeted repeatedly with just a simple actions, providing criminals the ability to create possibly limitless quantities of sophisticated, lifelike child sexual abuse material," she added. "Material which additionally exploits survivors' suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, more vulnerable on and off line." Support Interaction Data Childline also published details of support interactions where AI has been mentioned. AI-related risks mentioned in the conversations comprise: Employing AI to evaluate weight, physique and appearance AI assistants discouraging children from talking to trusted adults about abuse Facing harassment online with AI-generated content Digital blackmail using AI-manipulated pictures Between April and September this year, the helpline delivered 367 support sessions where AI, conversational AI and associated terms were discussed, significantly more as many as in the same period last year. Fifty percent of the references of AI in the 2025 sessions were related to psychological wellbeing and wellbeing, including utilizing chatbots for support and AI therapy apps.