Government to ban sexual deepfakes as Grok-generated images branded ‘weapons of abuse’

Liz Kendall told MPs the Government will accelerate the law to criminalise the production of the sexual AI-generated images an offence by the end of the week.

She said many concerning images have appeared showing women “tied up and gagged, with bruises, covered in blood and much, much more”, as well as deepfakes of children emerging.

Making a statement in the Commons, the Technology Secretary said such images are being used as “weapons of abuse”.

She said the Internet Watch Foundation “reports criminal imagery of children as young as 11, including girls sexualised and toddlers”.

“This is child sexual abuse.

Read more: Ofcom to investigate Musk’s Grok over ‘deeply disturbing’ nude images

Read more: First Minister calls X ‘woefully inadequate’ amid Grok AI misuse row

“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.”

Ms 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.

Ms Kendall said: “The Data (Use and Access) Act passed last year made it a criminal offence to create or request the creation of non-consensual intimate images, and today I can announce to the House that this offence will be brought into force this week.”

Nudification apps will also be criminalised to target the problem “at its source”, she said.

It comes after the minister revealed she backed a potential UK ban on Elon Musk's site X over the creation of deepfake images using its AI tool.

Grok, developed by another company founded by Musk called xAI, launched a new advanced image generation feature in July last year.

But its use for creating nude deepfake images has become widespread over the last few weeks, prompting condemnation from the Government and an Ofcom probe.

In a statement, Ofcom said it will investigate the platform to determine whether it “has complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from content that is illegal”.

Sir Keir Starmer said he backed Ofcom, branding it "disgraceful" that Elon Musk's site has been generating deepfake images of children "in minimal clothing".

"It's disgusting. And it's not to be tolerated," the Prime Minister said on Thursday.

He added: "X need to get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it's simply not tolerable."

Moments before the ban sexual deepfakes was announced, independent crossbench peer Baroness Kidron said “there is no reason to invent a technical way to strip women”.

Baroness Kidron, who founded the non-governmental organisation 5Rights, which looks at the impact of technology on children, told the Press Association: “Offering a premium service that strips women and girls to bikinis is a new low for X and (Elon) Musk.

“It is time to introduce minimum standards of terms of service in the UK that includes meeting our standards and values as set out in online safety and data legislation.

“Winning a race or playing in the garden and posting an image, ending up as child sexual abuse, violence abuse is an affront.

“I have called on Government to either use Online Safety Act or fill a gap if they cannot. We need enforcement to move fast.”