Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025

Detailed Note

The 2025 Criminal Law amendments expressly bring AI-generated intimate imagery (nudity, sexual imagery) and child sexual exploitation material into the criminal code. Notable innovations: (1) even where the "person" in the image is fictitious (AI-generated rather than a real individual), the offence still applies if the depicted person appears to be a minor; (2) production, possession and distribution all constitute offences; (3) aggravated penalties apply to deepfake intimate imagery targeting identifiable individuals. The amendment closes the legal gap for the new category of "AI-generated non-existent persons". Parliament passed the Bill on 4 November 2025 and the Act commenced in phases: the scam-penalty provisions on 30 December 2025, and the intimate-image and AI provisions on 17 August 2026. Producing an intimate image without consent (including AI-generated material) carries up to two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both, with mandatory imprisonment where the subject is under 14.