Lords propose AI tool on phones to stop child sexual abuse images

All new smartphones and tablets will have to be installed with software preventing the filming, viewing and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), under a proposal to be voted on in the House of Lords this week.

The amendment to the crime and policing bill, which has cross-party support, would require tech companies to embed an AI tool to detect CSAM on all devices sold in the UK.

The proposal, which follows the Lords vote in favour of a social media ban for under-16s, has been tabled by the same peer, the former Tory schools minister John Nash. It is also sponsored by the paediatrician Hilary Cass and the former children’s television presenter Floella Benjamin.

The government on Monday will launch a consultation on banning social media for younger teenagers but Lord Nash insisted ministers needed to go further to protect children online.

The Conservative peer said there was a “massive industry worldwide” of children being abused, with the images livestreamed around the globe. “This is a huge, multibillion-pound business,” he said, adding that he would be very surprised if the Lords did not support the amendment. “It’s about preventing the abuse of children,” said Nash.

Last year the Internet Watch Foundation removed more than 312,000 online CSAM images, a 7% increase on 2024. Analysts found 3,440 AI-generated videos of CSAM, compared with only 13 in 2024. Nash said that the UK was one of the biggest consumers of the material.

Under the terms of the proposal, to be debated  on Monday, tech companies would be mandated to embed tamper-proof software into the operating systems of their products. One company, SafeToNet, already sells “HarmBlock protected” smartphones installed with an AI detection tool designed to prevent the filming, viewing and sharing of explicit content.

Simon Bailey, the former chief constable of Norfolk, who was the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on child protection for eight years, insisted tougher regulation was needed and urged peers to back the Nash amendment. “The technology exists to be able to say with a degree of confidence: ‘This is child sex[ual] abuse material,’” he said.

Bailey said the “risk to reward” ratio had “completely flipped” for those viewing CSAM. “In the 1980s and 90s… the risk far outweighed the reward because there was every likelihood you were going to be caught. The internet has provided an anonymous environment where you can engage with children and purport to be somebody else. The government has got to do something.”

The rule would only apply to new devices, meaning tens of million people in the UK who already own a phone would still be able to access and produce the content.The Lords will also debate proposals to bring the regulation of online pornography in line with material broadcast or published offline.

Amendments tabled by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, who led an independent review on online pornography, would also create an independent body to audit and monitor pornography sites. “We need to control this content because there is no doubt it is shaping sexual behaviour,” Lady Bertin said.

“One in four young women has been strangled during sex. A 13-year-old boy is likely to have seen rape, incest and strangulation porn before he’s had his first kiss. Obviously, I'm trying to prevent violence against women and girls, but boys are being affected so badly by all this too.”

She said the Jeffrey Epstein case showed that “looking away when we know there’s a problem is just not good enough any more. There’s now a real public desire for the government to act. Suddenly, the scales have fallen from people’s eyes and they are realising how much harm is going on.”

A government spokesperson said: “We will respond in full to the amendments proposed by peers this week, but we have been clear that the days of a free pass for technology companies are over. Where they fail to act, we will.”

Photograph by Yuliya Taba/Getty Images