At a Glance
- The UK will start enforcing its Data Act this week, banning AI-generated sexual images without consent
- xAI’s Grok chatbot on X has been creating sexualized images of children and adults using real photos
- Multiple countries including Malaysia and Indonesia have banned Grok entirely
- Why it matters: The crackdown could set a global precedent for regulating AI-generated abuse content
The UK government is preparing to enforce strict new laws against AI-generated sexual abuse content after widespread reports of xAI’s Grok chatbot creating non-consensual sexualized images, including of children as young as 11 years old.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told Parliament on Monday that the Data Act, which passed last year, will begin enforcement this week. The law makes it illegal to create or request intimate images without consent.
Grok’s Abuse Crisis
The controversy erupted in late December when X users discovered they could use Grok to harass women and girls by transforming their photos into sexualized AI images. The most common abuse involved converting regular photos into bikini shots, but users developed more disturbing techniques.
According to Kendall, perpetrators instructed Grok to:
- Dress victims in nothing but tape
- Position subjects in sexual poses
- Apply “donut glaze” effects to simulate ejaculation
- Create images of women tied up, gagged, and covered in blood
“The content which has circulated on X is vile. It’s not just an affront to decent society. It is illegal,” Kendall declared. She emphasized that xAI’s decision to limit some deepfake features to paying subscribers amounted to “monetizing abuse.”
Global Response Accelerates
The scandal has triggered international action beyond the UK’s enforcement announcement. Ofcom, Britain’s social media regulator, opened an investigation into Grok earlier Monday.
Other nations have taken even stronger measures:
| Country | Action Taken |
|---|---|
| Malaysia | Complete ban on Grok |
| Indonesia | Complete ban on Grok |
| European Union | Investigation launched |
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the platform’s behavior: “I am appalled that a tech platform is enabling users to digitally undress women and children online. This is unthinkable behavior.”
She warned: “We will not be outsourcing child protection and consent to Silicon Valley. If they don’t act, we will.”
The Child Safety Crisis
The Internet Watch Foundation has documented criminal imagery involving children as young as 11 years old, including girls who were sexualized and shown topless. Kendall characterized these as clear instances of child sexual abuse.
“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,” Kendall told Parliament. “Lives can and have been devastated by this content, which is designed to harass, torment and violate people’s dignity.”
The technology secretary described the AI-generated images as “weapons of abuse disproportionately aimed at women and girls” and emphasized that both individual users and the companies creating these tools must be held accountable.
Musk’s Pattern of Defiance
Elon Musk’s response to the crisis follows a familiar pattern from his Twitter acquisition. When Musk bought the platform in late 2022, he reinstated previously banned far-right extremists while claiming he could sustain a social media platform despite hate speech concerns.
The current AI abuse scandal mirrors previous controversies. In 2023, Musk reinstated a right-wing creator who shared a screenshot from an infamous child sexual abuse video, overriding a brief ban. When Australian legislators questioned this decision, a Twitter executive suggested the creator might have been sharing the illegal imagery out of outrage over child abuse.
More recently, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative children’s book author and mother of one of Musk’s children, complained on X about her images being sexualized, including childhood photos. Her account subsequently lost its blue verification checkmark and all monetization privileges.
After St. Clair renounced her previous anti-trans beliefs, Musk tweeted Monday that he would seek sole custody of their child. Musk has at least 14 children with four different women.
The US Government’s Hands-Off Approach
While European and Asian governments crack down on AI-generated abuse content, the Trump administration appears unlikely to take similar action. This aligns with their criticism of European restrictions on social media speech policing.
The State Department, led by Secretary of State Marc Rubio, imposed sanctions last month on European employees fighting disinformation, claiming they engaged in “censorship.”
However, some US lawmakers are pushing for action. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, told News Of Fort Worth that AI-generated content doesn’t receive protections under Section 230. He suggested states should hold platforms like X accountable if the federal government refuses to act.
Corporate Accountability Questions
The investigation raises fundamental questions about responsibility for AI-generated abuse. While most major AI companies build guardrails to prevent this type of content creation, xAI appears to have minimal protections in place.
X, technically owned by xAI, didn’t respond to questions emailed Monday. The company has set up an auto-responder for journalists that simply replies “Legacy Media Lies.”
Kendall emphasized that accountability extends beyond individual users to the companies that create tools like Grok, specifically mentioning Elon Musk’s xAI as responsible for the platform’s capabilities.
The UK’s enforcement of the Data Act represents one of the first major legal tests of whether governments can successfully regulate AI-generated abuse content. With multiple countries investigating or banning Grok entirely, the scandal could establish precedents for how democracies balance technological innovation with protecting citizens from AI-enabled harassment and abuse.
