SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore authorities prepare to enforce legislation that goes into effect on Monday, protecting citizens from online sexual abuse including banning the use of artificial intelligence to create explicit images without consent.

The laws will also allow authorities to prosecute offenders suspected of grooming minors abroad and then sexually abusing them, if either the perpetrator or the victim travelled from the city-state before the offence was committed.

The changes include “a new offence of producing intimate images, including AI-generated materials, without consent”, Singapore’s home affairs department said on Friday.