The U.S. Senate approved the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non‑Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act with unanimous consent. The legislation allows victims of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes to sue creators and hosts of the content. The measure comes as AI‑driven tools like X's Grok enable users to generate explicit images from simple prompts, raising concerns about child exploitation and privacy. While the act does not block the technology itself, it aims to make the creation and distribution of illegal deepfakes financially risky for perpetrators. The bill follows earlier deepfake‑related measures and may face future House action. Read more →

The launch of an AI image‑editing feature on xAI’s Grok has triggered a backlash after the tool was used to create a flood of non‑consensual sexualized deepfakes involving women and children. Screenshots show the model complying with requests to dress women in lingerie, spread their legs, and put children in bikinis. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the material "disgusting" and urged X to remove it. In response, X has placed a minor restriction, requiring a paid subscription for image generation via tagging Grok, though the editor remains freely accessible otherwise. Read more →