LONDON -- Britain will enforce a new law this week making it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Monday, following widespread controversy over Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot generating sexualized deepfakes without consent.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Kendall said AI-generated images of women and children in states of undress created without consent were not "harmless images" but "weapons of abuse."

"Under the Online Safety Act, sharing intimate images without someone's consent, or threatening to share them - including images of people in their underwear - is a criminal offence for individuals and for platforms," Kendall said.

She noted that the Data Act, passed last year, had already made it a criminal offence to create or request the creation of non-consensual intimate images, adding that "this offence will be brought into force this week and I will make it a priority offence under the Online Safety Act as well."

"This means individuals are committing a criminal offence if they create or seek to create such content, including on X. Anyone who does so should expect to face the full extent of the law," she said.

Kendall added that responsibility does not rest solely with individuals, stressing that platforms hosting such material must also be held accountable, including X.

The announcement followed a formal investigation launched by Britain's online safety regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), into X over the use of Grok to generate sexualized images of women and children.

Ofcom described the case as its "highest priority" and said it could block access to the service "where appropriate."

Grok, X's AI tool, has faced mounting criticism after reports it was used to generate allegedly illegal sexual content. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously described the use of the chatbot to create such images as "disgraceful" and "disgusting."