Elon Musk told to take action over ‘demeaning and degrading’ sexualised deepfake images of children and women being created by X’s AI tool Grok

Elon Musk has been told to take immediate action to stop X’s Grok AI tool from producing indecent deepfake images of children and women.

Technology Minister Liz Kendall said the US tech billionaire should intervene after cases of the system being used to create sexualized images of real people came to the fore in recent days.

Regulator Ofcom has asked X and xAI to identify steps they have taken to comply with legal obligations to protect the social media platform’s UK users.

But the minister’s intervention threatens to open a new front in the war between the UK government and Mr Musk, who has already lashed out at Britain’s moves to regulate social media.

Ms Kendall said this afternoon: “What we have seen online in recent days is absolutely appalling and unacceptable in a decent society.”

‘No one should have to go through the hassle of seeing candid deepfakes of themselves online.

We cannot and will not allow these degrading and degrading images, which disproportionately target women and girls, to be disseminated.

‘X’ needs to take care of this urgently. ‘It is absolutely right that Ofcom treats this matter as a matter of urgency and it has my full support in imposing whatever sanctions it deems necessary.’

Ofcom ‘urgently contacted’ X and xAI over sexualized images of children, which Grok admitted in a post on the social media platform

Under the Online Safety Act in the UK, social media firms must prevent and remove child sexual abuse material when they become aware of it.

The law also prohibits the use of artificial intelligence to create pornographic images of people, also known as deepfakes, without their consent.

But X users have recently highlighted cases where innocent images of women and female child actors have been manipulated by Grok following requests from users to digitally alter or remove clothing.

Ms Kendall said efforts to prevent the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes were not an attempt to restrict freedom of expression.

Donald Trump’s US administration has lashed out at European regulators for attempts to regulate what appears online on American platforms.

But Ms Kendall said: ‘Services and operators have a clear obligation to act appropriately. This is about upholding the law, not restricting freedom of expression.

‘We have identified misuse of intimate images and cyber flashing as priority offenses under the Online Safety Act, including where images are created by artificial intelligence. This means that platforms must prevent such content from appearing online and, if it does appear, take action to have it removed immediately.

‘Violence against women and girls stains our society; That’s why we’ve passed a law banning the creation of explicit deepfakes without consent, which is both insulting and harmful.

‘Make no mistake; The UK will not tolerate the endless proliferation of disgusting and malicious material on the internet. ‘We must all come together to eliminate this.’

Ofcom has made ‘urgent contact’ with Elon Musk’s social media platform X following serious concerns that AI tool Grok could create ‘sexualised images of children’.

A post on the Grok

Elon Musk appears to be aware of technology being used to rip people off after posting a photo of herself in a bikini with a laughing emoji

He added: ‘xAI has protections in place, but improvements are ongoing to completely block such requests.’

Ofcom has urgently contacted

A spokesman for the regulator said: ‘Tackling illegal online harm and protecting children remain urgent priorities for Ofcom.

We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature in ‘Grok on X’ that produces nude images of people and sexualized images of children.

‘We have contacted X and xAI urgently to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK.

‘Based on their responses, we will conduct a rapid assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that require investigation.’

When asked for comment about sexualized images of children on the platform, xAI responded with an auto-generated email that read ‘old media lies’.

Elon Musk appears to be aware of the technology being used to rob people as he posted a photo of himself in a bikini.

The original post for this appears to have been deleted, but another user reposted their response with laughing emojis.

Kerry Smith, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: ‘IWF has received a number of reports from the public regarding suspected child sexual abuse images created on X by the AI ​​chatbot Grok.

‘We are still working on these reports but so far we have not seen any footage that exceeds the legal threshold to be considered child sexual abuse in the UK.’

He called on the government to require AI companies to impose security measures on their products to prevent harmful content.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We are introducing legislation to ban nudification tools in all their forms, including the use of artificial intelligence models for this purpose.

‘The misuse of private image is a devastating crime that disproportionately affects women and girls.

‘Under this new offence, any person or company who designs or supplies these means of denuding will face prison terms and significant fines.’