Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce statutory safeguards to ensure that AI chatbots cannot be used to simulate sexual activity or scenarios involving children.

The Government is committed to tackling the atrocious harm of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children – regulated services must remove illegal content and prevent children from encountering harmful content, including where it is AI generated.

We are committed to ensuring the UK is prepared for the changes AI will bring. The government has introduced an offence in the Crime and Policing Bill which criminalises possessing, creating or distributing AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material.