The UK government has approved child safety charities and tech firms to actively test AI systems to ensure they cannot make child sexual abuse imagery (CSAM) in an effort to curb the insidious practice.

The new rules come in an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow these “authorised testers” to examine AI tools on their ability to create child sexual abuse material before they are released.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) removed 426 CSAM pieces from the web between January and October 2025, a two-fold year-on-year increase, the charity said.

The IWF also reported a disturbing rise in depictions of infants, images of those depicted as 0-2 years old surging from 5 in 2024 to 92 in 2025.

Currently, criminal liability to create and possess this material means developers can’t carry out safety testing on AI models, and images can only be removed after they have been created and shared online.

This measure, one of the first of its kind in the world, ensures AI systems’ safeguards can be robustly tested from the start, to limit its production in the first place.

The laws will also enable organisations to check models have protections against extreme pornography, and non-consensual intimate images.

While possessing and generating child sexual abuse material is already illegal under UK law, both real and synthetically produced by AI, improving AI image and video capabilities present a growing challenge.

“We will not allow technological advancement to outpace our ability to keep children safe,” technology secretary Liz Kendall said.

“These new laws will ensure AI systems can be made safe at the source, preventing  vulnerabilities that could put children at risk.

“By empowering trusted organisations to scrutinise their AI models, we are ensuring child safety is designed into AI systems, not bolted on as an afterthought.”

The UK government is also bringing in a group of experts in AI and child safety to ensure the work carried out is done so safely and securely.

The group will help design the safeguards needed to protect sensitive data, prevent risk of any illegal content being leaked, and support the wellbeing of researchers involved.

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IWF chief executive Kerry Smith welcomed the new rules: “We welcome the government’s efforts to bring in new measures for testing AI models to check whether they can be abused to create child sexual abuse.

“For 3 decades, we have been at the forefront of preventing the spread of this imagery online – we look forward to using our expertise to help further the fight against this new threat.

“AI tools have made it so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, giving criminals the ability to make potentially limitless amounts of sophisticated, photorealistic child sexual abuse material. Material which further commodifies victims’ suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, less safe on and off line.

“Safety needs to be baked into new technology by design. Today’s announcement could be a vital step to make sure AI products are safe before they are released.”