The UK government has announced new laws to combat the growing threat of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Our new laws mean we're going further than any other country in the fight against AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
We're also sending a message to anyone who seeks to do children harm: you won’t be able to cower behind a keyboard any more. https://t.co/ngWaShFMdp— Peter Kyle (@peterkyle) February 2, 2025
The Home Office stated that the UK will be the first country to criminalize the possession, creation, and distribution of AI tools designed to create CSAM. Offenders could face up to five years in prison.
Great news that AI-generated child sex abuse images will be targeted with new laws.This is something @barnardos and I have been asking government to do for a long time as it encourages real offline child abuse @BBCNews @LibDemLords https://t.co/QIjMdiGMPZ
— Floella Benjamin (@FloellaBenjamin) February 2, 2025
Possessing AI “paedophile manuals” that teach individuals how to use AI for sexual abuse will also become illegal, carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison. The new laws will make it an offense to run websites where paedophiles can share CSAM or provide advice on grooming children, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper highlighted the severity of the issue, stating, “What we’re seeing is that AI is now putting the online child abuse on steroids.” She noted that AI is “industrialising the scale” of sexual abuse against children and mentioned that government measures “may have to go further.
AI-generated CSAM involves images that are either partly or completely computer-generated.
The Government is closing AI loopholes that have allowed paedophiles to escape punishment by introducing four new offences.
Read @peterkyle article in Guardian to learn more: https://t.co/EvsJxlbKWq
— Luke Murphy MP (@LukeMLabour) February 3, 2025
Software can “nudify” real images and replace the face of one child with another, creating realistic images.
The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualised images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison#unitedkingdom #AItools #ChildrenExposedToAI #CriminaliseAI #ChildAbuse https://t.co/jWLCA2UL2U pic.twitter.com/9XPzyyAaMl
— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 2, 2025
Laws against AI child exploitation
In some instances, the real-life voices of children are also used, meaning innocent survivors of abuse are being re-victimised.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported that AI-generated CSAM has risen by 380%, with 245 confirmed reports in 2024 compared to 51 in 2023. These reports can contain thousands of images. The Border Force will be empowered to instruct individuals suspected of posing a sexual risk to children to unlock their digital devices for inspection upon entering the UK, with penalties of up to three years in prison depending on the severity of the images.
Some experts believe the government could have gone further. Prof. Clare McGlynn, an expert in the legal regulation of pornography and online abuse, suggested banning “nudify” apps and tackling the “normalisation of sexual activity with young-looking girls on mainstream porn sites.
The new measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill in the coming weeks. The UK’s pioneering laws against AI-generated child abuse tools could set a precedent for other nations to follow in the battle against online child exploitation.
April Isaacs is a news contributor for DevX.com She is long-term, self-proclaimed nerd. She loves all things tech and computers and still has her first Dreamcast system. It is lovingly named Joni, after Joni Mitchell.
