The Crime and Policing Bill has received Royal Assent, becoming the Crime and Policing Act 2026.

While the Government has described the Act as broadly aiming to achieve the two goals of  (1) “tackling the epidemic of serious violence against women and girls that stains our society” and (2) “equipping police with the powers they need to combat antisocial behaviour, crime and terrorism”, it goes much further, introducing new laws in a range of areas, including anti-social behaviour, protests, child sexual abuse, and retail crime, as well as confirming the abolition of controversial non-crime hate incidents (as discussed here).

The Act also contains a number of measures aimed at addressing online harms, many of which we have discussed previously. These include criminalising the making or supplying of ‘purported intimate image generators’ (so-called ‘nudification tools’), taking intimate images without consent, and possessing or publishing certain types of pornography.

AI chatbots also fall within its scope. As we’ve discussed previously, there is growing concern that certain AI chatbots escape the regulatory scope of the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA). While Ofcom has been quick to remind service providers (see here) that AI-generated content (such as that produced by chatbots) is highly likely to fall within the scope of the OSA, at the beginning of this year the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology expressed concern that the law might need to be changed to ensure that AI chatbots are subject to regulatory oversight.

The Act addresses this in two respects. First, it creates an offence of creating, supplying or otherwise making available an AI chatbot that produces particular proscribed content. Second, it amends section 216 of the OSA to empower the Secretary of State to introduce regulations aimed at “minimising or mitigating the risk of harms to individuals in the United Kingdom presented by (a) illegal AI-generated content; and (b) the use of AI services for the commission or facilitation of priority offences”.

Finally, nestled between these measures addressing AI chatbots is a small but consequential change to the law that will be relevant for all businesses, extending the criminal liability of companies and partnerships where a senior manager commits an offence “within the actual or apparent scope of their authority”. Currently, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 limits such criminal liability for businesses to certain economic crimes. However, the Crime and Policing Act extends this to any crimes committed by senior managers within the UK when acting within their actual or apparent authority.

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