Starmer slams ‘insulting’ changes to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot making deepfake creation a ‘premium service’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said changes to limit usage of chatbot Grok’s image editing tool to paying users are “not a solution”.
Changes to Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok only serve to make creating deepfakes a “premium service” and are “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence, Downing Street has said.
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The Prime Minister’s spokesman said changes to limit usage of chatbot Grok’s image editing tool to paying users are “not a solution” but do prove that social Elon Musk’s social media site X can move quickly when it wants to.
The changes to Grok come after regulator Ofcom said it made “urgent contact” with X, which created the integrated AI chatbot, following reports that users have prompted the tool to generate sexualised images of people, including children.
Grok is now telling people making such requests that only paid subscribers are able to do so – meaning their name and payment information must be on file.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “That move… that simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.
“It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.
Read more: Elon Musk’s Grok curbs AI image editing usage after deepfakes backlash
Read more: Minister 'considering leaving X' after 'appaling' Grok deepfake child abuse controversy
“What it does prove is that X can move swiftly when it wants to do so”
“You heard the Prime Minister yesterday. He was abundantly clear that X needs to act and needs to act now, it is time for X to grip this issue.
“If another media company had billboards in town centres showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash.”
He reiterated that “all options” are on the table, including for Ofcom to use its powers to “take any action”.
Speaking to LBC, Employment Minister Dame Diana Johnson said she is considering leave X after the platform's AI was used to create lewd deepfakes of hundreds of women.
She told Tonight with Andrew Marr she is "reflecting now about staying on” X following the scandal.
"I am appalled by what's happened, and let's be clear, it's not child pornography, this is actually child abuse.
"These are child abuse images that are being put forward. And I know that Peter Kyle and ministers in his department and Liz Kendall will be having those conversations, very strong conversations with the bodies that Elon Musk runs."
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Tackling illegal online harm and protecting children remain urgent priorities for Ofcom. “We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children.
“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. Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation.”