UK Law Now Criminalises Some Realistic AI-Generated Porn

New criminal offences that took effect in England and Wales on 6 November 2026 make it illegal to possess or publish certain pornographic images that portray specified acts “in an explicit and realistic way.” The UK government’s own factsheet states that the strangulation and suffocation offence “would therefore include realistic AI generated images.”

The commencement order, SI 2026/1090, brought sections 104, 106 and 107 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 into force on that date. Section 104 inserts a new offence into the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008: it is an offence to possess or publish a pornographic image that portrays, in an explicit and realistic way, a person strangling or suffocating another person, if “a reasonable person looking at the image would think that the persons were real.”

That “real persons” test is the line that matters for AI image generators and open NSFW models. Official Ministry of Justice guidance says the offences “only capture pornography that shows people which appear, to a reasonable person, to be real.” A clearly stylised or non-realistic image sits outside that test. A photorealistic still or clip can sit inside it.

The same commencement also covers other specified categories of pornographic image, including depictions of sexual activity between certain relatives and images in which a reasonable person would think someone is, or is pretending to be, under 16. Those are public-protection measures now in force. They likewise apply only where the people in the image appear real.

Maximum penalties, as set out in the Act and restated in the guidance, are two years’ imprisonment for possession of the strangulation or specified family-relationship images, three years for possession in the under-16 category, and five years for publication of any of them. Publication includes giving or making an image available by any means, such as uploading or sending it. The government says possession can include an image stored on a device or in a personal cloud account. Prosecutions in England and Wales for the section 104 offence need the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Defences include not having seen the image, being sent it unsolicited and not keeping it for an unreasonable time, a legitimate reason, and, in defined cases, direct participation in a real act that did not involve non-consensual harm.

The offences have also been added to the list of priority offences under the Online Safety Act 2023. The factsheet says that places duties on platforms to take proactive, proportionate steps to keep this material off their services, with Ofcom able to fine a service up to £18 million or 10 percent of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.

When the start date was announced in October, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones told people who held or shared the material to delete it and stop sharing it, and said that after 6 November “it is criminal,” the BBC reported. The ministry has said the aim is not to criminalise “harmless sexual preferences,” but to target material it argues can normalise real-world harm.

For users and operators of adult AI tools who are in, or who serve, England and Wales, the practical point is narrow and serious: a photorealistic generated image can now fall under a possession or publication offence if it depicts one of the specified acts, even if no real person was photographed. This article is a news summary of published law and guidance, not legal advice. The statutory tests and defences are for a court to apply.