Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 1, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
The UK becomes the first country to criminalize AI-generated child abuse material, targeting AI tools used to create explicit images of children.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will make it illegal to use artificial intelligence tools that create child sexual abuse images, it said on Saturday, becoming the first country in the world to introduce the new AI sexual abuse offences.
Possessing, taking, making, showing or distributing explicit images of children is a crime in England and Wales. The new offences target the use of AI tools to "nudeify" real-life images of children.
The move comes as online criminals increasingly use AI to create child abuse material, with reports of such explicit images rising nearly five-fold in 2024, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.
"We know that sick predators' activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person," Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper said. "It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline so we can better protect the public from new and emerging crimes."
Predators also use AI tools to disguise their identity and blackmail children with fake images to force them into further abuse, such as by streaming live images, the government said.
The new criminal offences include the possession, creation or distribution of AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse material and the possession of so-called AI "paedophile manuals," which provide instructions on the usage of the technology.
Another specific offence will target those who run websites on which child sexual abuse content is distributed. The government will also enable authorities to unlock digital devices for inspection.
The measures will be included in the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament.
Britain said earlier this month it would also make the creation and sharing of sexually explicit "deepfakes" - videos, pictures or audio clips made with AI to look real - a criminal offence.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
Britain will make it illegal to use artificial intelligence tools that create child sexual abuse images, becoming the first country to introduce such legislation.
The new offences include the possession, creation, or distribution of AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse material and the possession of AI 'paedophile manuals.'
The government aims to tackle the rising use of AI by online criminals to create child abuse material, which has reportedly increased nearly five-fold in 2024.
The legislation will also target those running websites distributing child sexual abuse content and will enable authorities to unlock digital devices for inspection.
Earlier this month, the UK announced plans to criminalize the creation and sharing of sexually explicit 'deepfakes' made with AI.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
