The UK is enforcing a law that makes it possible to create intimate, phony images like those already doing so without consent it has multiplied to X because of the Grok AI chatbot, which is reportedly a crime BBC.
“The Personal Data Act passed last year criminalized the creation – or request for the creation – of intimate images without consent,” he claims. Liz Kendall statementBritish Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. “And today I can announce to the House that this offense will come into force this week and that I will make it a priority offense in the Internet Safety Bill as well.” As a priority crime, “services must take proactive action to prevent this content from appearing in the first place.”
Ofcom, which regulates the UK telecommunications industry, announced earlier today that it was formally investigating X over the Grok deepfakes. If Ofcom finds that X is in breach of the Online Safety Act, it can require the platform to take certain steps to ensure compliance and impose penalties of “up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenues, whichever is greater.”
“The government expects Ofcom to set out a timeline for the investigation as soon as possible,” Kendall says. “Society – and most importantly, the victims of Grok’s actions – expect quick and decisive action. So it cannot take months and months.”
xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On January 3, October he said“We are taking action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and cooperating with local governments and law enforcement as necessary. Anyone who uses or solicits Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as those who upload illegal content.”
Last week, X also placed some restrictions on Grok’s ability to generate an image, making tagging the chatbot in a response to publicly generate an image a feature only for paying subscribers. However, Edge discovered that there are still free ways to utilize Grok to edit and create images, including sexual images.