The UK’s safeguarding minister has urged law enforcement to actively pursue individuals using Elon Musk’s Grok platform to create harmful deepfake images of children.
Jess Phillips expressed her concerns to The Mirror, emphasizing the need for accountability from Musk’s technology company. The artificial intelligence service, Grok, has faced backlash for producing manipulated images, including those of minors, without their consent.
Phillips condemned the existence of such features, highlighting the detrimental impact on lives due to exploitation. Despite Grok’s recent announcement to offer deepfake creation as a paid service only, Phillips dismissed this as inadequate, calling for stronger actions.
She emphasized the importance of police intervention against those involved in producing or circulating such disturbing content, stressing potential severe penalties of up to 10 years in prison for offenders. Phillips criticized the move to limit the image generator to paid users as insufficient, asserting that tools enabling the creation of degrading and non-consensual content should not be tolerated.
The minister underscored the legal responsibility of social media platforms to promptly remove such material, warning of substantial fines by regulator Ofcom for non-compliance. Phillips reiterated the government’s commitment to combatting child sexual abuse, emphasizing the severe consequences for individuals engaging in the creation or distribution of AI-generated exploitative content.
Public figures like Maya Jama have demanded action to stop the platform from generating unauthorized images of them. Proposed legislation aims to criminalize the creation, possession, and dissemination of harmful AI-generated images of children, with potential imprisonment of up to five years.
Labour’s strategy against violence targeting women and girls pledges to outlaw apps that generate deepfake images without consent. Phillips highlighted the government’s efforts to criminalize the creation of intimate deepfake images without consent, emphasizing the urgency of enforcing these laws.
Ofcom recently raised concerns regarding Grok’s production of sexualized images of children, prompting urgent communication with Musk’s company. Musk affirmed that individuals misusing Grok to produce illegal content would face consequences similar to uploading illegal material.
Efforts are ongoing to address safeguarding measures and rectify existing lapses in Grok to comply with regulations. It is crucial for platforms like X to take responsibility and cooperate with authorities to combat exploitation effectively.