The UK government is introducing a new criminal offence this week targeting the creation of sexual images without a person's consent, a move prompted by widespread outrage over AI-generated imagery from Elon Musk's Grok chatbot.
Cabinet Ministers Among Targets of 'Nudification' Trend
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed the legislation in the House of Commons on Monday, January 12, 2026. The announcement follows a disturbing trend on Musk's social media platform X, where users last week exploited the Grok AI to generate 'undressed' images of individuals. Women and children were among the primary targets, and reports confirmed that two serving cabinet ministers had also fallen victim to this abuse.
Musk initially responded by restricting the deepfake image generation feature to verified Grok users whose real identities are linked to their accounts. However, he appeared to trivialise the serious nature of the behaviour by using the tool to create an image of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a bikini, framing subsequent limitations as an attack on free speech.
New Law to Tackle Abuse 'At Its Source'
The new offence will be enacted under the Data (Use and Access) Act, which was passed by Parliament last year. Furthermore, the government's flagship Crime and Policing Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, is set to outlaw so-called 'nudification' apps entirely.
Secretary Kendall emphasised that this broader legislation would also block companies from supplying the tools used to create non-consensual intimate imagery, aiming to confront the issue 'at its source'. The exact day this week the law comes into force was not specified.
Regulatory Crackdown on X and Grok
The political response has been swift. Prime Minister Starmer warned Labour MPs that X could lose its right to self-regulate over the controversy. 'If X cannot control Grok, we will – and we’ll do it fast because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate,' Starmer stated.
Simultaneously, the communications regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether X breached the law by failing to protect UK users from illegal content. Ofcom cited 'deeply concerning reports' of the Grok AI chatbot being used to create and share undressed images, which may constitute intimate image abuse or child sexual abuse material.
This legal shift aligns with a broader societal push to address violence against women, exemplified by campaigns like Metro's 'This Is Not Right'. The new law marks a significant step in adapting legal frameworks to confront the harms enabled by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technology.
