UK Advances Law to Criminalize Deepfake Nudes, Responding to Grok

The United Kingdom is implementing a law that criminalizes the creation of non-consensual deepfake images, such as those circulated by the Grok AI chatbot on X, as reported by the BBC.

Liz Kendall, the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, stated: "The data bill passed last year criminalizes the creation or request for the creation of non-consensual intimate images." "Today, I can announce to Parliament that this offense will come into effect this week, and I will also designate it as a priority offense under the Online Safety Act." As a priority offense, "services must proactively take steps to prevent this content from appearing in the first place."

Ofcom, the UK communications industry regulator, announced earlier today that it is formally investigating X's actions regarding Grok deepfakes. If Ofcom determines that X has violated the Online Safety Act, it may require the platform to take specific measures and impose a penalty of "up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying global revenue, whichever is higher."

Kendall said: "The government expects Ofcom to publish the investigation timeline as soon as possible." "The public—especially the victims of the Grok incident—expect swift and decisive action. So this will not take months."

xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On January 3, X stated: "We take action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), by removing content, permanently suspending accounts, and cooperating with local authorities and law enforcement where necessary. Anyone who uses or prompts Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as someone who uploads illegal content."

Last week, X also imposed some restrictions on the ability to use Grok for generating images, making the feature of tagging the chatbot in replies to publicly generate images exclusive to paid subscribers. However, The Verge discovered that there are still free methods available to use Grok for editing and creating images, including sexually suggestive ones.