Ministers have indicated that the incoming measures, which make a criminal offence of owning, using or distributing artificial intelligence technology to synthesise indecent images of children, are a world first
The government has claimed that UK will become the first country in the world to introduce legislation to target the use of artificial intelligence tools to create child abuse imagery.
Four new laws will make it illegal to possess or distribute AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The offences will be punishable with up to five years in prison.
AI-generated CSAM refers to content that is completely or partly created with the technology. These tools are being used to “nudify” real-life pictures of children or place the faces of a children onto existing images, the government said.
Criminals are also using the tools to create fake images and blackmail victims and force them into further abuse.
It comes amid warnings from online safety organisations that AI-generated CSAM is rising at a “chilling rate”.
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Last month, the Internet Watch Foundation urged prime minister Keir Starmer to fix “gaping loopholes” in the Online Safety Act as new data showed online CSAM hit a record high in 2024.
Under the new laws, it will also be illegal to have AI “paedophile manuals” which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, and offenders will get up to three years in prison. And they will also target those who operate websites on which CSAM content is distributed.
“What we’re seeing is that AI is now putting the online child abuse on steroids,” home secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC.
She said around half a million children across the UK are victims of abuse of some sort each year, “and the online aspect of that is an increasing and growing part of it”.
Cooper continued: “This is an area where the technology doesn’t stand still and our response cannot stand still to keep children safe.”
The new legislation will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill which is due to introduced to parliament in coming weeks.
A version of this story originally appeared on PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood
