Britain is set to become the first country to introduce laws targeting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in generating child sexual abuse images, the government announced on Saturday.
Under the proposed legislation, it will be illegal to create, distribute, or possess AI tools designed to produce sexualized images of children, with offenders facing up to five years in prison. Additionally, those found in possession of AI-generated “paedophile manuals” that provide guidance on using AI for child abuse will face up to three years in jail, according to Interior Minister Yvette Cooper.
“This is a real and disturbing phenomenon,” Cooper told Sky News on Sunday. “Online child sexual abuse material is growing, but AI is now accelerating it. These tools make it easier for perpetrators to groom children and manipulate images, which can then be used for blackmail and further abuse.”
The new measures, which will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, will also ban AI models specifically designed for child abuse. Furthermore, individuals running websites that facilitate the sharing of child sexual abuse content or provide guidance on grooming children could face up to ten years in prison.
The government highlighted that AI tools are being used to “nudeify” real-life images of children and superimpose their faces onto existing abuse material. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the rising number of such AI-generated images, reporting that its analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site within just 30 days in 2024.
Cooper emphasized the urgency of these measures, revealing that around 500,000 children in the UK fall victim to some form of abuse each year, with online exploitation playing a growing role.
While no other country has yet implemented such laws, the UK government hopes its initiative will set a precedent for global action against AI-driven child exploitation.
