UK to bring into force law to tackle Grok AI deepfakes this week

The UK will deliver into power a regulation which can make it unlawful to create non-consensual intimate photographs, following widespread considerations over Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot.

Expertise Secretary Liz Kendall mentioned the federal government would additionally search to make it unlawful for firms to produce the instruments designed to create such photographs.

Talking to the Commons, Kendall mentioned AI-generated photos of ladies and kids in states of undress, created with out a particular person’s consent, weren’t “innocent photographs” however “weapons of abuse”.

The BBC has approached X for remark. It beforehand mentioned: “Anybody utilizing or prompting Grok to make unlawful content material will endure the identical penalties as in the event that they add unlawful content material.”

It comes hours after Ofcom announced it was launching an investigation into X over “deeply regarding experiences” about Grok altering photographs of individuals.

If discovered to have damaged the regulation, Ofcom can doubtlessly problem X with a effective of as much as 10% of its worldwide income or £18 million, whichever is larger.

And if X doesn’t comply, Ofcom can search a courtroom order to power web service suppliers to dam entry to the positioning within the UK altogether.

In an announcement, Kendall urged the regulator to not take “months and months” to conclude its investigation, and demanded it set out a timeline “as quickly as potential”.

It’s at present unlawful to share deepfakes of adults within the UK, however laws within the Knowledge (Use and Entry) Act which might make it a legal offence to create or request them has not been enforced till now, regardless of passing in June 2025.

Final week, campaigners accused the government of dragging its heels on implementing that regulation.

“In the present day I can announce to the Home that this offence will probably be introduced into power this week,” Kendall informed MPs.

Along with the Knowledge Act, Kendall mentioned she would additionally make it a “precedence offence” within the On-line Security Act.

“The content material which has circulated on X is vile. It is not simply an affront to first rate society, it’s unlawful,” she mentioned.

“Let me be crystal clear – below the On-line Security Act, sharing intimate photographs of individuals with out their consent, or threatening to share them, together with photos of individuals of their underwear, is a legal offence for people and for platforms.

“This implies people are committing a legal offence in the event that they create or search to create such content material together with on X, and anybody who does this could count on to face the total extent of the regulation.”

However the know-how secretary mentioned the “duties don’t simply lie with people for their very own behaviour” – and “the platforms that host such materials have to be held accountable, together with X”.

She mentioned the federal government would additionally construct on measures outlined within the Crime and Policing Invoice to criminalise nudification apps.

“This new legal offence will make it unlawful for firms to produce instruments designed to create non-consensual intimate photographs, focusing on the issue at its supply,” she mentioned.

“Along with all of those actions, we count on know-how firms to introduce the steps advisable by Ofcom’s steering on the right way to make platforms safer for ladies and ladies at once.

“If they don’t, I’m ready to go additional.”

Authorized knowledgeable Jamie Hurworth mentioned Kendall’s feedback had been “an indicator of how critically the federal government at the moment are taking this problem”.

“It stays to be seen whether or not an overstretched police power has adequate sources to analyze and convey perpetrators earlier than the courts however it is necessary that every hyperlink within the chain – from particular person creators to social media platforms – is held to account for his or her involvement in this kind of behaviour.”

Following on from the know-how secretary’s feedback within the Commons, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer informed the Parliamentary Labour Occasion: “If X can’t management Grok, we are going to – and we’ll do it quick as a result of for those who revenue from hurt and abuse, you lose the suitable to self regulate.”

Ofcom’s investigation will look at whether or not X has didn’t take down unlawful content material rapidly when it grew to become conscious of it, and brought “acceptable steps” to forestall individuals within the UK from seeing it.

The choice follows a world backlash over Grok’s picture creation characteristic, with each Malaysia and Indonesia briefly blocking entry to the instrument over the weekend.

An Ofcom spokesperson didn’t give a sign on how lengthy the investigation would take however mentioned it might be a “matter of the best precedence”.

In a response to an earlier publish questioning why different AI platforms weren’t being checked out, Elon Musk mentioned the UK authorities needed “any excuse for censorship”.

However Kendall refuted this.

“This isn’t, as some would declare, about limiting freedom of speech,” she mentioned.

“It’s about tackling violence in opposition to girls and ladies.”

Shadow know-how secretary Julia Lopez welcomed Ofcom’s investigation, and mentioned her occasion supported the federal government on nudification instruments.

However she criticised the government over feedback Kendall made final week, when she mentioned she would again Ofcom if it blocked UK entry to X for failing to adjust to legal guidelines.

Ms Lopez mentioned regardless of the web being utilized by criminals earlier than, web sites haven’t been banned earlier than.

“It’s an awfully critical transfer in opposition to a platform that can be utilized for good, for uncovering scandal, sparking democratic revolution, and permitting day-to-day the free alternate of concepts, together with concepts we do not like.”