What parents and schools need to know about AI-generated child sexual abuse material — why it is illegal, how to report it safely, and how to protect children.
AI image tools can now generate realistic sexual images of children who do not exist, or place a real child's face onto sexual material. In UK law this is child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and is illegal to create, possess, or share, whether or not a real child was photographed. The Internet Watch Foundation has reported a sharp rise in AI-generated CSAM, and it is a major focus of the Online Safety Act's duties on platforms.
Offenders use image-generation apps, sometimes 'nudifying' tools, or models fine-tuned on abuse material to produce illegal imagery. A real child can be targeted when their ordinary photos — for example from a school website or a public social media account — are used to generate sexual images of them. This is why oversharing children's images publicly carries a risk, and why any request for a child's photos should be treated seriously.
1. Limit public photos of your child
Keep children's images off public profiles and school-facing pages where possible, and set social accounts to private. Publicly available face photos are the raw material offenders use to generate abuse imagery.
2. Talk about photo requests early
Teach children that no one online should ask for photos of them, and that it is always fine to say no and tell you — even if the request seems friendly or comes from someone they think they know.
3. Know the reporting routes before you need them
Save the Internet Watch Foundation and CEOP reporting links. If you ever encounter this material, do not save, share, or screenshot it — report the web address to the IWF, who work internationally to have it removed.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-02