Labour has called on Elon Musk’s social media platform X to urgently deal with its artificial intelligence service Grok being used to create sexualised deepfake images.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall backed regulator Ofcom, which is looking into X and xAI, the firm founded by Mr Musk which created Grok, to take “any enforcement action” deemed necessary.
Users of X, formerly known as Twitter, appear to have prompted Grok to generate images of children and young women “in minimal clothing”.
A post on the Grok X account said it was aware there have been “isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing”.
Ms Kendall said: “What we have been seeing online in recent days has been absolutely appalling, and unacceptable in decent society.
“No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online.
“We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls.
“X needs to deal with this urgently. It is absolutely right that Ofcom is looking into this as a matter of urgency and it has my full backing to take any enforcement action it deems necessary.”
Mr Musk founded XAI which created Grok
|
GETTY
Ms Kendall said efforts to curb the spread of fake nude images were not about restricting freedom of expression, but instead was about “upholding the law”.
She said: “We have made intimate image abuse and cyberflashing priority offences under the Online Safety Act including where images are AI-generated.
“This means platforms must prevent such content from appearing online and act swiftly to remove it if it does.
“Violence against women and girls stains our society, and that is why we have also legislated to ban the creation of explicit deepfakes without consent, which are both degrading and harmful.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall issued a warning to Elon Musk
|
PA
According to research from AI Forensics, a Paris-based non-profit, across 50,000 mentions of @Grok on X and 20,000 images generated by the tool, at least a quarter of the Grok mentions instructed the tool to generate an image.
Out of those, there was a high prevalence of terms including “her”, “put”, “remove”, “bikini” and “clothing”.
More than half the images were of people in “minimal attire” such as underwear or bikinis, the majority being women who appeared to be under the age of 30. Researchers said two per cent appear to show people aged 18 or under.
Mr Musk himself appeared to poke fun at the controversy earlier on Friday, posting laugh-cry emojis in response to AI edits of famous people, including himself, in bikinis.
Grok has come under fire by Labour
|
GETTY
The tech tycoon also insisted “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content”.
An X spokesman said: “We take action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”
In response to a request for a comment on Ms Kendall’s statement, an automated response from xAI said: “Legacy media lies.”
The generation of images of women and minors in extremely skimpy clothing has previously been referred to by X as “spicy mode.”
The former X headquarters in San Francisco
|
GETTY
The European Commission said it was “very aware” of the fact that X was offering the so-called “spicy mode,” spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters.
He said: “This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This is how we see it, and this has no place in Europe.”
Ofcom said it was aware of “serious concerns” raised about the feature.
A spokesman said: “We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK.”