Artificial Intelligence: Offences against Children

(asked on 9th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Government had discussions on the threats posed by AI-generated child sexual abuse material at the AI Safety Summit of 1 and 2 November 2023.


Answered by
Saqib Bhatti Portrait
Saqib Bhatti
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 15th November 2023

The UK believes that the global risks posed by frontier AI are increasingly urgent, including risks to online safety. That is why the summit programme included a roundtable discussion on risks from the integration of frontier AI into society.

The Government has already passed legislation to protect children online. The world-leading Online Safety Act contains robust duties for companies to address AI-generated CSEA material. All services will be required to proactively tackle that content, preventing users from encountering it, and removing it immediately if it does appear.

Additionally, existing criminal law, such as the Protection of Children’s Act 1978 captures and criminalises a wide range of behaviours which extend to AI-generated CSEA material.

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