Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of images for online child sexual exploitation.

The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse online and in our communities across the UK and internationally. This includes working to safeguard children, provide support to victims and survivors, and pursuing offenders and bringing them to justice.

UK law is crystal clear – AI generated child sexual abuse images are illegal material. It is an offence to produce, store or share any material that contains or depicts child sexual abuse, regardless of whether the material depicts a “real” child or not.

We are committed to continuing to make sure law enforcement have the right powers to tackle this crime. That is why we will be bringing forward new legislative measures to tackle AI generated child sexual abuse material in this parliament.

Home Office investment also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt the highest harm offenders, safeguard children and remove the most horrific child sexual abuse material from the internet, including on the dark web.

The Online Safety Act places new duties on these services to address priority illegal content, which includes child sexual exploitation and abuse, whether it is AI generated or not. The Act applies to companies that provide user-to-user services and search services.

This Government is fully committed to tackling the creation of child sexual abuse online and will use every lever possible to continue to do so.