UK Becomes First Country to Criminalise AI Child Abuse Tools

UK Becomes First Country to Criminalise AI Child Abuse Tools

London, UK - Britain has become the first country in the world to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, with possession, creation, or distribution of such tools punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to an announcement made by Interior Minister Yvette Cooper on Saturday, it will also be illegal to possess AI "paedophile manuals" that teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison.

The government stated that the new laws aim to safeguard children online as technologies evolve and tackle child sexual abuse both online and offline. The measures are seen as a vital step to prevent growing threats from predators generating AI images and engaging in online sexual abuse.

According to the authorities, 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". Furthermore, websites run by paedophiles will also be targeted under the new laws, punishable by up to ten years in prison.

These measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned that an alarming number of AI child abuse images are being produced. Last year, over 3,500 AI child abuse images were identified on a single dark web site within a 30-day period in 2024, with the most serious category increasing by 10 percent.

The new laws signal a significant step towards protecting children online, as the UK becomes the world's first country to take such measures.