The U.K. to introduce new laws to curb AI-powered CSAM image prodcution.
There are many threats that have emerged as the evolution of AI continues apace, from hack attacks against billions of Gmail users, to the dangers of bypassing strict Google Gemini prompt controls, to AI-tools being used by hackers and cybercriminals. However, all of these, in my never humble option, fade into the background compared to the use of AI to create deepfakes, especially when these involve sexual material. Especially, especially when that is child sexual abuse material. Amazingly, it is not illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools for this exact purpose—but that is all about to change as the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to introduce laws that will see guilty parties facing a five-year prison sentence.
New AI Laws In U.K. The First To Tackle CSAM Image Generation
As reported by the BBC, the U.K. is on the verge of introducing four new laws that will make it harder for people to generate child sexual abuse material using AI-powered tools. The U.K. Home Office has stated that it will be the first country in the world to make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to create child sexual abuse material. The punishment for this seems a little light to me as a father of eight and grandfather of another eight, a maximum of five years in prison. “Possessing AI pedophile manuals,” the BBC said, “which teach people how to use AI for sexual abuse, will also be made illegal, and offenders will get up to three years in prison.”
Speaking on the BBC TV Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg broadcast Feb. 2, U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that “You have perpetrators who are using AI to help them better groom or blackmail teenagers and children, distorting images and using those to draw young people into further abuse, just the most horrific things taking place and also becoming more sadistic.”
And that’s not where the U.K. lawmakers will stop. Further offenses are to be introduced to make it illegal to run websites sharing such AI-generated material, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and the U.K. Border Force is to be given new powers to unlock the devices of incoming passengers for inspection if CSAM is suspected.
