Britain will make it illegal to use artificial intelligence tools that create child sexual abuse images, it said on Saturday, becoming the first country in the world to introduce the new AI sexual abuse offences.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has put child sexual abuse “on steroids”, a British lawmaker warned ahead of a crackdown on computer-generated material. UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a new ban on AI tools which can create child sexual abuse material – including “sexualised” pictures of real children – would give law enforcers the power to “keep more children safe”.

Four new laws will tackle the threat of child sexual abuse images generated by artificial intelligence (AI), the government has announced.