NON-consensual sexual images made using Grok are to become a criminal offence from this week, the UK Government has said.
UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall labelled AI-generated images of women “tied up and gagged, with bruises, covered in blood and much, much more” as being “weapons of abuse”.
It has been confirmed the Government will criminalise apps which allow users to create nude fake images of people across the board.
Making a statement in the Commons, Kendall said the Internet Watch Foundation “reports criminal imagery of children as young as 11, including girls sexualised and toddlers”.
She added “This is child sexual abuse.
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“We’ve seen reports of photos being shared of women in bikinis, tied up and gagged, with bruises, covered in blood, and much, much more.
“Lives can and have been devastated by this content which is designed to harass, torment and violate people’s dignity.
“They are not harmless images. They’re weapons of abuse, disproportionately aimed at women and girls, and they are illegal.”
Kendall said creating or requesting to create non-consensual intimate images will become a criminal offence this week after legislation on it was passed last year.
She said she would make it a “priority offence” in the Online Safety Act.
It comes after Ofcom launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk's platform.
Ofcom said on Monday that it would be investigating whether the “X Internet Unlimited Company” (XIUC) had failed in its duties relating both to illegal content and protecting children.
The regulator said that Grok may have been "used to create and share undressed images of people – which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography – and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material".
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Ofcom said it would investigate whether XIUC had failed on its:
- Duties to carry out a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment
- Safety duties about illegal content
- Duties to carry out a suitable and sufficient children’s risk assessment
- Safety duties protecting children
The watchdog said it could impose fines of "up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater)", or it could apply to a court for an order requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring internet service providers to block access to a site in the UK.
Ofcom added that it had received a response from X over the issues by the deadline of January 9, and decided to launch the formal investigation after an "expedited assessment of available evidence".
Kendall said the probe must not take "months and months".
She said: "The Government expects Ofcom to set out a timeline for the investigation as soon as possible. The public, and most importantly the victims of Grok’s activities, expect swift and decisive action. So this must not take months and months.
"But X does not have to wait for the Ofcom investigation to conclude. They can choose to act sooner to ensure this abhorrent and illegal material cannot be shared on their platform. If they do not, Ofcom will have the backing of this Government to use the full powers which Parliament has given them."
Any delay in the Ofcom investigation risks further abuse of women while the site “continues to profit from their objectification and degradation”, campaigners have warned.
The Refuge charity, which works to tackle violence against women and children, has urged the regulator to act quickly and decisively.
Emma Pickering, from the charity, said the Government “must tackle the growing threat of technology-facilitated abuse” if it is to achieve its goal of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.
She said: “Ofcom’s investigation must be swift and decisive – any delay will leave women at risk of further abuse, while X continues to profit from their objectification and degradation."
