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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 AI tools 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:
AI technology is now being used to ‘nudeify’ real-life images of children or manipulate their faces to create sexualized content. They are also being used to blackmail and exploit kids further. For example, forcing them into live-streaming by perpetrators.
The Internet Watch Foundation reported that over 3,500 AI-generated child abuse images were discovered on a dark website in just 30 days in 2024. Such findings are disturbing and reveal the increasing and alarming role of AI in online child abuse.
In addition, the UK government is targeting those who operate websites that host or facilitate the distribution of child sexual abuse material. Those caught running such sites will face up to 10 years in prison. Authorities will also be granted powers to unlock digital devices for further investigation and inspection.
The new UK child abuse law tells the world that it will not tolerate or allow the exploitation of AI to victimize children. The government is looking at this as a pioneering endeavor to curb the misuse of AI. The UK child abuse ban model may inspire other countries to do similar things in protecting children from new online threats and AI-enabled crimes.
