Tech companies and UK child safety agencies to test AI tools’ ability to create abuse images
Tech companies and child protection agencies will be given the power to test whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under a new UK law.The announcement was made as a safety watchdog revealed that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material [CSAM] have more than doubled in the past year from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.Under the change, the government will give designated AI companies and child safety organisations permission to examine AI models – the underlying technology for chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators such as Google’s Veo 3 – and ensure they have safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.Kanishka Narayan, the minister for AI and online safety, said the move was “ultimately about stopping abuse before it happens”, adding: “Experts, under strict conditions, can now spot the risk in AI models early.”The changes have been introduced because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such images as part of a testing regime.
Until now, the authorities have had to wait until AI-generated CSAM is uploaded online before dealing with it.This law is aimed at heading off that problem by helping to prevent the creation of those images at source.The changes are being introduced by the government as amendments to the crime and policing bill, legislation which is also introducing a ban on possessing, creating or distributing AI models designed to generate child sexual abuse material.This week Narayan visited the London base of Childline, a helpline for children, and listened to a mock-up of a call to counsellors featuring a report of AI-based abuse.The call portrayed a teenager seeking help after he had been blackmailed by a sexualised deepfake of himself, constructed using AI.
“When I hear about children experiencing blackmail online, it is a source of extreme anger in me and rightful anger amongst parents,” he said.The Internet Watch Foundation, which monitors CSAM online, said reports of AI-generated abuse material – such as a webpage that may contain multiple images – had more than doubled so far this year.Instances of category A material – the most serious form of abuse – rose from 2,621 images or videos to 3,086.Girls were overwhelmingly targeted, making up 94% of illegal AI images in 2025, while depictions of newborns to two-year-olds rose from five in 2024 to 92 in 2025.Kerry Smith, the chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said the law change could “a vital step to make sure AI products are safe before they are released”.
“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,” she said.“Material which further commodifies victims’ suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, less safe on and off line.”Childline also released details of counselling sessions where AI has been mentioned.AI harms mentioned in the conversations include: using AI to rate weight, body and looks; chatbots dissuading children from talking to safe adults about abuse; being bullied online with AI-generated content; and online blackmail using AI-faked images.Between April and September this year, Childline delivered 367 counselling sessions where AI, chatbots and related terms were mentioned, four times as many as in the same period last year.
Half of the mentions of AI in the 2025 sessions were related to mental health and wellbeing, including using chatbots for support and AI therapy apps.
US markets struggle amid tech sell-off and economic uncertainty
Wall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified.After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large.Investors are also braced for the release of a batch of official data on the state of the US economy, amid heightened uncertainty over its strength during the federal government shutdown.The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average each closed down 1.7% in New York on Thursday, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dropped 2
Atom is prematurely split in the ‘golden age’ transatlantic partnership | Nils Pratley
It had all been so harmonious two months ago. “Together with the US, we’re building a golden age of nuclear that puts both countries at the forefront of global innovation and investment,” purred the prime minister about the new “landmark” UK-US nuclear partnership.Now there’s an atomic split over the first significant decision. The UK has allocated Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, or Ynys Môn, to host three small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built by the British developer Rolls-Royce SMR. The US ambassador, Warren Stephens, says his country is “extremely disappointed”: he wanted Westinghouse, a US company, to get the gig for a large-scale reactor
AI slop tops Billboard and Spotify charts as synthetic music spreads
Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk,” reads a lyric from Walk My Walk, a seeming double entendre challenging those opposed to AI-generated music
UK firms can win a significant chunk of the AI chip market | John Browne
The UK is in a uniquely promising position, far too little understood, to play a lucrative role in the coming era of artificial intelligence – but only if it also grabs the opportunity to start making millions of computer chips.AI requires vast numbers of chips and we could supply up to 5% of world demand if we get our national act together.Our legacy in chip design is world-class, starting with the first general-purpose electronic computer, the first electronic memory and the first parallel computer. Today we have Cambridge-based Arm, a quiet titan designing more than 90% of the chips powering phones and tablets globally.With such a pedigree, it is not idle daydreaming for British companies to win a significant chunk of the AI chip market; 5% is a conservative, achievable ambition
Eli Katoa’s playing future uncertain as recovery from head impacts, seizures and brain surgery continues
Melbourne Storm backrower and Tonga star Eli Katoa faces the prospect of further weeks in hospital and possibly time in a rehabilitation centre as he begins his slow recovery from brain surgery after he suffered three head knocks against New Zealand 12 days ago.The 25-year-old remains in hospital in Auckland, and alarming information provided by his club on Friday indicates there is no guarantee one of the game’s best forwards will play again.Katoa appeared to suffer a concussion in the warmup in the Pacific Championships clash two weeks ago when his head collided with Tonga teammate Lehi Hopoate.But he was allowed to play, and received two more head impacts during the game, before suffering seizures on the sideline and needing emergency surgery to release bleeding on the brain.The Storm chief executive, Justin Rodski, said Katoa’s recovery was only beginning
Donald Trump’s granddaughter Kai in last after 83 in shaky LPGA debut
Kai Trump, the US president’s granddaughter and the eldest child of Donald Trump Jr, opened her LPGA career with a 13-over-par 83 on Thursday at The Annika, a debut round that left her at the bottom of the leaderboard and underscored the chasm between elite junior golf and a field stacked with the sport’s top professionals.The 18-year-old amateur, playing on a much-discussed sponsor’s exemption, began her round on the back nine alongside former major champion Hinako Shibuno and Germany’s Olivia Cowan. She received warm applause when her name was announced on the par-4 10th tee and again after she drove it safely into the fairway, one of the few calm moments in a jittery start.Trump confessed afterward she was more nervous than when she spoke at the Republican National Convention last year and it showed. She bogeyed her opening four holes, a run of tentative strokes that left her scrambling before she had taken a fifth swing from a fairway
‘Are you building communities or just houses?’: human cost of Birmingham council’s plans for Druids Heath estate
Ultra-processed foods may help explain rising bowel cancer in under-50s, study suggests
Council staff visited wrong address day before Sara Sharif’s murder, review finds
The rapid rise of renters in their 60s: ‘I hate the idea of house-sharing – but I have no choice’
Deaths linked to antibiotic-resistant superbugs rose 17% in England in 2024
High blood pressure rates in children nearly doubled in 20 years, global review finds