International AI Safety Report 2025

International AI Safety Report 2025: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (British Government) and the AI Safety Institute (now AI Security Institute) recently released the first-ever International AI Safety Report 2025.

• Key highlights of the report: The report flags the imminent risk of generation, possession, and dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using AI tools.

o U.K. is making the first legislative attempt to tackle threats posed by AI-generated CSAM.

o CSAM refers to material (audio, video, and images) depicting a sexually explicit portrayal of a child.

o WEF (2023) highlighted how generative AI can create life-like images, especially of children.

o Internet Watch Foundation (Oct 2024) reported the proliferation of CSAM on the open web.

• Way Forward: The Government of India must amend existing laws to address these emerging threats and ensure long-term effectiveness:

o NHRC Advisory (Oct 2023): Replace ‘child pornography’ with ‘CSAM’ under the POCSO Act.

o Define ‘sexually explicit’ under Section 67B of IT Act to enable real-time CSAM identification and blocking.

o Redefine ‘intermediary’ under the IT Act to include VPNs, VPS, and Cloud Services, making them liable for CSAM compliance.

o Adopt the UN Draft Convention on ‘Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technology for Criminal Purposes’.

o Proposed Digital India Act 2023 must draw inspiration from the U.K.’s legislation to include AI-generated CSAM provisions.