AI tools have put child sexual abuse on steroids Home Secretary warns

Artificial intelligence (AI) has put child sexual abuse “on steroids”, the Home Secretary has warned ahead of a crackdown on computer-generated material.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has put child sexual abuse “on steroids”, the Home Secretary has warned ahead of a crackdown on computer-generated material.

Yvette Cooper said a new ban on AI tools which can create child sexual abuse material – including “sexualised” pictures of real children – would give law enforcers the power to “keep more children safe”.

Owning an AI tool which can generate these pictures could land offenders with a five-year prison sentence.

Users found to own AI-made “paedophile manuals” could also face up to three years in prison under measures the Government has proposed as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Ms Cooper told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “This is a real, disturbing phenomenon that we’ve got where we’ve known for some time the online child sexual abuse material is growing, but also the grooming of children, teenagers online.

“What’s now happening is that AI is putting this on steroids and it is making it easier for perpetrators, for abusers, 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.

“So, what we need to do is to strengthen the law, and that includes banning some of the AI models being used for child abuse, but also banning some of the paedophile manuals.”

The Home Secretary added the National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigates cybercrime and cross-border economic offences, “are saying these further powers are needed and they will then be able to use them to get prosecutions to keep more children safe”.

Fake images are being used to blackmail children and force them to livestream further abuse, according to the Home Office, and ministers fear online abuse can lead viewers to offend in person.

Published: 02/02/2025 by Radio NewsHub