UK PM vows action over Grok AI's sexual deepfakes
What's the story
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to take action against social media platform X, after its Grok AI chatbot was reported to be generating sexualized deepfakes of both adults and minors. "It's disgusting," Starmer said in an interview with Greatest Hits Radio. He called on X to "get their act together and get this material down," adding that the government would take action as such behavior is "simply not tolerable."
Feature fallout
X's new feature leads to surge in AI deepfakes
Last month, X introduced a controversial feature allowing users to edit any image on the platform using Grok, even without permission. The update has resulted in a massive increase in AI deepfakes, some of which involve stripping women and children. "We're not going to tolerate it," Starmer said while emphasizing that he had asked for all options to be considered.
Regulatory probe
UK's communications regulator investigates X's compliance
The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, began investigating whether X is violating the country's Online Safety Act. The law holds online platforms accountable for hosting harmful content. "Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation," an Ofcom spokesperson told Politico last week.
Platform policy
X's stance on illegal content creation
In light of the controversy, X has clarified its position on illegal content creation. The platform said that "anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." According to a Bloomberg report, Genevieve Oh, a 24-hour analysis of Grok's activity showed the AI chatbot generated roughly 6,700 sexually suggestive images every hour, underscoring the scale of the abuse.