The UK’s safeguarding minister has urged the police to vigorously pursue individuals utilizing Elon Musk’s Grok platform to produce harmful deepfake images of children.
Speaking to The Mirror, Jess Phillips expressed discontent with the tech billionaire’s X platform, emphasizing the need for accountability as outrage mounts over the controversy. Grok, an artificial intelligence service by X, has faced criticism for generating unclothed images of individuals, including minors, without their consent.
Phillips condemned such functionalities, asserting that they should not exist and highlighting the devastating impact on lives due to exploitation. Following X’s announcement that Grok will offer deepfake creation as a “premium service” to paying users only, Phillips dismissed this move as inadequate.
She emphasized the importance of law enforcement pursuing those responsible for creating or distributing AI-generated images for malicious intent, stressing severe penalties for offenders. Phillips criticized the limited access to Grok’s image generator for paid users as insufficient, insisting that tools producing degrading non-consensual content should be eliminated entirely.
Phillips also underscored the legal obligation for social media platforms to promptly remove such content, warning of substantial fines by regulator Ofcom for non-compliance. She reiterated the government’s stance against child sexual abuse, emphasizing the legal repercussions for creating, possessing, or disseminating AI-generated abusive imagery.
Highlighting demands from public figures like Maya Jama to halt the generation of such images, Phillips noted upcoming legislation that will impose prison sentences for individuals involved in producing illicit AI content involving children. Additionally, Labour’s strategy against violence towards women and girls commits to outlawing apps that generate non-consensual deepfake images of victims.
Emphasizing the government’s legislative efforts to combat intimate deepfake creation, Phillips called on platforms like X to take responsibility and comply with regulations. She warned of decisive action if platforms failed to address the issue promptly.
Ofcom recently raised concerns with X and xAI regarding Grok’s production of sexualized images of children, prompting a response from Musk acknowledging the lapses in safeguards and committing to rectify the issues urgently. Musk affirmed that individuals misusing Grok to produce illegal content would face consequences as severe as uploading illegal material.