UK Pioneers Legislation to Criminalize AI-Generated Child Abuse Images

UK to Become First Country to Criminalize AI Child Abuse Images

The United Kingdom is all set to be the first country to criminalize the use of AI abuse tools for creating sexualized images of children. The new legislation would be introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill. This will be in direct response to the growing misuse of AI by online predators. Under the new law, one will not be allowed to possess, create, or circulate aimed at producing inappropriate images of children. The perpetrator will serve up to five years in prison. People who are found in possession of 'pedophile manuals' will be sentenced to up to three years. The pedophile manuals teach culprits how to use AI to exploit kids. The UK's Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, voiced her concern about the growing use of AI to facilitate child exploitation. Cooper can be seen explaining the planned AI child abuse laws in the following interview:

UK to become 1st country to criminalize AI child abuse tools

Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced Saturday. The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, interior minister Yvette Cooper revealed. It will also be illegal to possess AI "pedophile manuals" which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison. "We know that sick predators' activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person," said Cooper. The new laws are "designed to keep our children safe online as technologies evolve. It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline," she added. "Children will be protected from the growing threat of predators generating AI images and from online sexual abuse as the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to create new AI sexual abuse offences," said a government statement. AI tools are being used to generate child sexual abuse images by "nudeifying" real life images of children or by "stitching the faces of other children onto existing images," said the government. The new laws will also criminalize "predators who run websites designed for other pedophiles to share vile child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children," punishable by up to ten years in prison, said the government. The measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the growing number of sexual abuse AI images of children being produced. Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site. The number of the most serious category of images also rose by 10% in a year, it found.

UK to become first country to criminalise AI child abuse tools

LONDON (AFP) - Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against artificial intelligence (AI) tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced. 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, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper revealed. It will also be illegal to possess AI "paedophile manuals" which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison. "This is a real disturbing phenomenon. Online child sexual abuse material is growing, but also the grooming of children teenagers online. And what's now happening is that AI is putting this on steroids," Interior Minster Yvette Cooper told Sky News yesterday. She said AI tools were making it easier for perpetrators "to groom children, and it's also meaning that they are manipulating images of children and then using them to draw and to blackmail young people into further abuse. "It's just the most vile of crimes," she added. The new law would include banning "some of the AI models being used for child abuse", said the minister. "Other countries are not yet doing this, but I hope everyone else will follow," she added. AI tools are being used to generate child sexual abuse images by "nudeifying" real life images of children or by "stitching the faces of other children onto existing images," said the government. The new laws will also criminalise "predators who run websites designed for other paedophiles to share vile child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children," punishable by up to ten years in prison, said the government. Cooper told the BBC yesterday that a recent inquiry had found that around 500,000 children across the United Kingdom are victims of child abuse of some form each year, "and the online aspect of that is an increasing and growing part of it". The measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to Parliament. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the growing number of sexual abuse AI images of children being produced. Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site. The number of the most serious category of images also rose by 10 per cent in a year, it found.

UK Introduces 'World-First' Laws to Ban AI Tools That Create Child Abuse Images

The U.K. will become the first country in the world to make it illegal to use AI tools that create child sexual abuse images. The U.K. has introduced introduce several "world-first" laws aimed at tackling the use of AI technology to produce child sexual abuse images. To address a legal loophole that has raised significant concerns among police and online safety advocates, the U.K. will outlaw the possession, creation, and distribution of AI tools intended to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Offenders will face up to five years in prison, according to a report by the BBC. It will also become illegal for anyone to possess manuals that teach people how to use AI tools to make abusive imagery. Those found guilty will face a potential prison sentence of up to three years. Other laws set to be introduced include making it an offence to run or moderate websites where paedophiles can share child sexual abuse content or provide advice on how to groom children. That would be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The BBC reports that the U.K's Border Force will also be given powers to instruct individuals who they suspect of posing a sexual risk to children to unlock their digital devices for inspection when they attempt to enter the UK, as CSAM is often filmed abroad. This offence will be punishable by up to three years in prison, depending on the severity of the images. The new measures announced will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament in the next few weeks. "You have perpetrators who are using AI to help them better groom or blackmail teenagers and children, distorting images and using those to draw young people into further abuse, just the most horrific things taking place and also becoming more sadistic," U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tells the BBC. "This is an area where the technology doesn't stand still and our response cannot stand still to keep children safe." The new laws come almost a year after the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images was made a criminal offense in the U.K. Under the legislation, anyone convicted of creating such deepfakes without consent, even if they don't intend to share the images, will face a criminal record as well as an unlimited fine under a new law. However, if the sexually explicit deepfake image is shared more widely, then the offender could face jail time too. Meanwhile, in the U.S., senators introduced a bill that would criminalize the spread of nonconsensual deepfake porn -- in direct response to the sexually explicit AI-generated photos of Taylor Swift that went viral earlier this year.

U.K. to become first country to criminalize AI child abuse tools

Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced late Saturday. The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, interior minister Yvette Cooper revealed. It will also be illegal to possess AI "pedophile manuals" which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison.

UK makes use of AI tools to create child abuse material a crime

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)

AI tools used for child sexual abuse images targeted in Home Office crackdown

UK will be first country to bring in tough new laws to tackle the technology behind the creation of abusive material Britain is to become the first country to introduce laws tackling the use of AI tools to produce child sexual abuse images, amid warnings from law enforcement agencies of an ­alarming proliferation in such use of the technology. In an attempt to close a legal ­loophole that has been a major ­concern for police and online safety campaigners, it will become illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material. Those found guilty will face up to five years in prison. It will also become illegal for anyone to possess manuals that teach potential ­offenders how to use AI tools to either make abusive imagery or to help them abuse children, with a potential prison sentence of up to three years. A stringent new law targeting those who run or moderate websites designed for the sharing of images or advice to other offenders will be put in place. Extra powers will also be handed to the Border Force, which will be able to compel anyone who it suspects of posing a sexual risk to children to unlock their digital devices for inspection. The news follows warnings that the use of AI tools in the creation of child sexual abuse imagery has more than quadrupled in the space of a year. There were 245 confirmed reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse images last year, up from 51 in 2023, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Over a 30-day period last year, it found 3,512 AI images on a single dark web site. It also identified an increasing proportion of "category A" images - the most severe kind. AI tools have been deployed in a variety of ways by those seeking to abuse children. It is understood that there have been cases of deploying it to "nudify" images of real children, or applying the faces of children to ­existing child sexual abuse images. The voices of real children and victims are also used. Newly generated images have been used to blackmail children and force them into more abusive situations, including the live streaming of abuse. AI tools are also helping perpetrators disguise their identity to help them groom and abuse their victims. Senior police figures say that there is now well-established evidence that those who view such images are likely to go on to abuse children in person, and they are concerned that the use of AI imagery could ­normalise the sexual abuse of children. The new laws will be brought in as part of the crime and policing bill, which has not yet come to parliament. Peter Kyle, the technology ­secretary, said that the state had "failed to keep up" with the malign applications of the AI revolution. Writing for the Observer, he said he would ensure that the safety of children "comes first", even as he attempts to make the UK one of the world's leading AI markets. "A 15-year-old girl rang the NSPCC recently," he writes. "An online ­stranger had edited photos from her social media to make fake nude images. The images showed her face and, in the background, you could see her bedroom. The girl was terrified that someone would send them to her parents and, worse still, the ­pictures were so convincing that she was scared her parents wouldn't believe that they were fake. "There are thousands of stories like this happening behind bedroom doors across Britain. Children being exploited. Parents who lack the knowledge or the power to stop it. Every one of them is evidence of the ­catastrophic social and legal failures of the past decade." The new laws are among changes that experts have been demanding for some time. "There is certainly more to be done to prevent AI technology from being exploited, but we welcome [the] announcement, and believe these measures are a vital starting point," said Derek Ray-Hill, the interim IWF chief executive. Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said the charity's Childline service had heard from children about the impact AI-generated images could have. She called for more measures stopping the images being produced. "Wherever possible, these abhorrent harms must be prevented from happening in the first place," she said. "To achieve this, we must see robust regulation of this technology to ensure children are protected and tech companies undertake thorough risk assessments before new AI products are rolled out."

UK makes use of AI tools to create child abuse material a crime

LONDON, Feb 1 (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 Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial IntelligencePublic Health

AI tools used to generate child abuse images made illegal in 'world leading' move

AI tools designed to generate child sex abuse material (CSAM) will be made illegal under "world leading" legislation, the government has announced. The crackdown will also target anyone who possess AI "paedophile manuals" which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children. It comes after warnings AI-generated child abuse imagery is being produced at a "chiling rate" and is "disturbingly realistic". It is already illegal to possess AI-generated CSAM but the new laws will target the means of production. This includes: Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, said Britain is the "first country in the world" to legislate for AI abuse imagery. She said: "This is a global problem and is going to need global solutions. This government is leading the way on trying to clamp down on this horrendous crime." The Home Office said AI tools are being used to generate abuse images in a number of ways, including by "nudeifying" real-life images of children or by stitching the faces of other children onto existing child sexual abuse images. The NSPCC said its childline service has been hearing from distressed children who have found AI-generated images of them. In one call, a 15-year-old girl told them: "A stranger online has made fake nudes of me. It looks so real, it's my face and my room in the background. They must have taken the pictures from my Instagram and edited them. I'm so scared they will send them to my parents. The pictures are really convincing, and I don't think they'd believe me that they're fake." Perpetrators are also using the fake images to blackmail children and force victims into further abuse, including streaming live images. The perpetrators can use AI tools to disguise their initial identity and more effectively groom and abuse children online, the Home Office said. Ms Phillips said: "It is a massive battle. This is where it starts. This is not where it ends." The government has also announced that it will introduce a specific offence for predators who run websites designed for other paedophiles to share child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. This is already illegal under possession and distribution laws, but the new offence will allow for longer sentences and prevent moderators from trying to claim they don't know what is on the site. The UK Border Force will also be given new powers to force an individual who they suspect poses a sexual risk to children to unlock their digital devices for inspection. Read more: Microsoft hit as AI spending in sharp focus after DeepSeek market shock UK to 'mainline AI in the veins' under new plans from Sir Keir Starmer All four measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "We know that sick predators' activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person. This government will not hesitate to act to ensure the safety of children online by ensuring our laws keep pace with the latest threats." This comes after The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warned of an increase in AI-generated sex abuse images. Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI CSAM images on a single dark web site. Compared with their 2023 analysis, the prevalence of category A images (the most severe category) had risen by 10%. The IWF also warned that some AI images were so realistic it was hard to distinguish them from real abuse. Derek Ray-Hill, the charity's interim chief executive, said: "We have long been calling for the law to be tightened up, and are pleased the government has adopted our recommendations. These steps will have a concrete impact on online safety."

AI-generated child sex abuse images targeted with new laws

Possessing AI paeodophile manuals will also be made illegal, and offenders will get up to three years in prison. These manuals teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse young people. "We know that sick predators' activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person," said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. "This government will not hesitate to act to ensure the safety of children online by ensuring our laws keep pace with the latest threats." The other laws include making it an offence to run websites where paedophiles can share child sexual abuse content or provide advice on how to groom children. That would be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. And the Border Force will be given powers to instruct individuals who they suspect of posing a sexual risk to children to unlock their digital devices for inspection when they attempt to enter the UK, as CSAM is often filmed abroad. Depending on the severity of the images, this will be punishable by up to three years in prison. Artificially generated CSAM involves images that are either partly or completely computer generated. Software can "nudify" real images and replace the face of one child with another, creating a realistic image. In some cases, the real-life voices of children are also used, meaning innocent survivors of abuse are being re-victimised. Fake images are also being used to blackmail children and force victims into further abuse. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it makes around 800 arrests each month relating to threats posed to children online. It said 840,000 adults are a threat to children nationwide - both online and offline - which makes up 1.6% of the adult population. Cooper said: "These four new laws are bold measures designed to keep our children safe online as technologies evolve. "It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline so we can better protect the public," she added. Some experts, however, believe the government could have gone further. Prof Clare McGlynn, an expert in the legal regulation of pornography, sexual violence and online abuse, said the changes were "welcome" but that there were "significant gaps". The government should ban "nudify" apps and tackle the "normalisation of sexual activity with young-looking girls on the mainstream porn sites", she said, describing these videos as "simulated child sexual abuse videos". These videos "involve adult actors but they look very young and are shown in children's bedrooms, with toys, pigtails, braces and other markers of childhood," she said. "This material can be found with the most obvious search terms and legitimises and normalises child sexual abuse. Unlike in many other countries, this material remains lawful in the UK."

We're closing the loopholes that allow paedophiles to use AI to sexually abuse children | Peter Kyle

Technology has changed how predators operate. Now a raft of new offences will stop those who create heinous content escaping punishment Technology moves fast. Legislation can be slow. For decades, that has felt like a fundamental fact of public life. But the gap between our laws and the world they are supposed to govern feels wider than ever. While the internet has transformed every element of our society, the state has not kept up. Most of the laws that prohibit the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse imagery have been in place since the 1990s. Back then, Photoshop was in its infancy. The physical photographs that paedophiles shared were no less vile, but they were easier for the police to seize and destroy. Since then, technology has completely changed the way these people operate, making it possible to create and distribute horrifyingly life-like images and videos of children in seconds. In just one month, the Internet Watch Foundation identified more than 20,000 AI-generated images on one dark web forum. I firmly believe that AI will be a force for good in our society, helping British businesses grow and saving our doctors, teachers and nurses time so they can provide support to those who need it most. I have committed to bringing forward legislation to ensure that we can safely realise the extraordinary opportunities this technology offers in the decades to come. But the safety of children must always come first. That is why today, as part of our Plan for Change to deliver safer streets and protect the most vulnerable in society, we are announcing four new offences that will close the legal loopholes that are letting paedophiles escape punishment. In the past couple of years, we have seen a growing number of people facing prison for creating and distributing this kind of content. But we know that, for every person put behind bars, there are many more who are acting with impunity. In the outdated eyes of the law, some aren't considered criminals at all. Today, it is actually legal to possess a "paedophile manual" that tells you - in horrifying detail - how you can use AI to sexually abuse children. With the emergence of AI models capable of creating this kind of heinous content faster than we could have ever imagined, some might say it was inevitable that our laws fell behind. But we cannot pretend that all of this is new, nor can we say that we couldn't have seen it coming. The fact that previous governments failed to close the loopholes that allow this technology to be used in such a vile way is unforgivable. Because every day of delay has come at a heartbreaking human cost - a cost shouldered by our children. A 15-year-old girl rang the NSPCC recently. An online stranger had edited photos from her social media to make fake nude images. The images showed her face and, in the background, you could see her bedroom. The girl was terrified that someone would send them to her parents and, worse still, the pictures were so convincing that she was scared her parents wouldn't believe that they were fake. There are thousands of stories like this happening behind bedroom doors across Britain. Children being exploited. Parents who lack the knowledge or the power to stop it. Every one of them is evidence of the catastrophic social and legal failures of the past decade. That is why we are taking urgent action through a raft of new offences that will finally close the legal loopholes that paedophiles are exploiting to ruin young lives. If you are found in possession of a "paedophile manual", you will now face years in jail. For the first time, we'll imprison the people who are making the AI models that generate child sexual abuse material. Those who run or moderate websites where paedophiles share advice on how to groom children and avoid detection will spend a decade behind bars. But we also know that this is a global problem, with British criminals travelling abroad to film child sexual abuse in places where the police won't stop them and bringing images and videos back across our borders on their phones and laptops. That is why we're giving our border force the power to scan the devices of those they suspect to possess child sexual abuse material against the Child Abuse Images Database. This won't just see more paedophiles put in prison; it will stop the tidal wave of illegal content inundating our country in its tracks. These measures are the first of their kind in the world. We are going further than any other country in the battle against AI-generated child sexual abuse material. But we are also sending a clear message to anyone who seeks to do children harm or believes that the law is too slow to catch them: you won't be able to cower behind a keyboard any more. Soon there will be nowhere to hide.