Keir Starmer has vowed to keep the pressure on Elon Musk after the X owner appeared to blink first a row over Grok AI being used to generate indecent images of women and children.
After Sir Keir demanded the US tech billionaire to act to stem the creation of deepfakes, including child abuse material, the social media tool last night began refusing to comply with user requests.
Today those trying to generate indecent or embarrassing images of women and children – but not men – are being told: ‘Unfortunately I can’t generate that kind of image.’
But facing MPs today at Prime Minister’s Questions Sir Keir said that while the action was welcome but did not go far enough.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said this week she was bringing forward regulations this week to tighten the law on so-called ‘digital stripping’.
Responding to a question from Labour MP Emily Darlington, Sir Keir repeated his condemnation of Grok as ‘disgusting’ and ‘shameful’, and said Ofcom, which is investigating, had ministers’ full backing to act if X did not.
He said: ‘To update the House, I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law.
‘If so, that is welcome, but we’re not going to back down, and they must act.
‘We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation.’
Facing MPs today at Prime Minister’s Questions Sir Keir said that while the action was welcome but did not go far enough.
On Monday night Sir Keir warned Musk to prevent the AI from generating ‘disgusting’ images amid a growth outcry, saying: ‘If X cannot control Grok, we will.’
After the Prime Minister demanded the US tech billionaire to act to stem the creation of deepfakes the social media tool last night began refusing to comply with user requests.
Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, had earlier branded the UK ‘fascist’ and claimed it was acting to prevent free speech, a line echoed by the Trump White House.
On Monday night Sir Keir warned Musk to prevent the AI from generating ‘disgusting’ images amid a growth outcry, saying: ‘If X cannot control Grok, we will.’
Addressing Labour MPs, the Prime Minister said he was determined to act ‘fast’ to prevent the AI chatbot Grok from being used to ‘undress’ images of women and children.
Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, had earlier branded the UK ‘fascist’ and claimed it was acting to prevent free speech, a line echoed by the Trump White House.
Last week he limited Grok’s image generation tool to registered paying users of X, arguing that the details of anyone using the tool to create abusive images would then be available.
But Ms Kendall said the change amounted to ‘monetising abuse’ and called for a total ban.
Media regulator Ofcom, which has powers to levy fines running into billions of pounds, has launched an investigation into whether the social media site has broken the law.
Malaysia and Indonesia have already blocked Grok and the EU has also told Mr Musk to sort out the problems or face action.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last night that Grok will join Google’s generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military’s data as possible into the developing technology.
‘Very soon we will have the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department,’ Hegseth said in a speech at Musk’s space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas.
It came as former Meta boss Sir Nick Clegg called for tougher regulation of tech firms, branding social media a ‘poisoned chalice’ and the rise of AI online a ‘negative development’.
The ex-deputy prime minister warned that engaging with ‘automated’ content appears to be ‘much worse, particularly for younger people’s mental health’ than interactions with other human beings.
And he criticised the ‘TikTokification’ of apps like Instagram, which is owned by Meta, where he said users were being ‘bombarded’ by short-form videos ‘plucked from the deepest, darkest recesses of the internet’.
Sir Nick made the remarks during an evidence session of the cross-party Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, chaired by former Tory home secretary Sir Sajid Javid and former Labour MP Jon Cruddas.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last night that Grok will join Google’s generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military’s data as possible into the developing technology.
The critique marks an apparent shift in tone from the former media executive, who announced he was stepping down as tech giant Meta’s president of global affairs in January last year.
The previous month, he railed against what he described as ‘needless regulatory complexity’ in the EU holding up his plans to train the company’s AI models using people’s public social media posts.