Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has issued a powerful demand to police forces across the UK, urging them to 'relentlessly pursue' individuals who create sickening AI-generated deepfake images of children using Elon Musk's X platform.
X's Grok AI Under Fire for 'Vile' Image Generation
In an exclusive statement, the minister voiced her profound disgust at revelations that X's artificial intelligence service, Grok, has been used to generate non-consensual, declothed images of people, including minors. The scandal has sparked widespread anger, with Ms Phillips warning that social media platforms have a clear legal duty to remove such content immediately.
She condemned X's recent announcement that creating deepfakes would become a 'premium service' for paying users as a 'pathetic half measure'. "Tools that create vile, degrading, non-consensual images should never exist – to paying or non-paying users," Ms Phillips declared. She insisted that X must stop hiding behind excuses and work with regulators to comply with the law.
Government Warns of Severe Legal Consequences
The minister emphasised that UK law is unequivocal: creating, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material, even if AI-generated, is a serious crime. Perpetrators face severe penalties, with those caught with the most abhorrent material potentially receiving up to 10 years in prison.
Furthermore, platforms like X that fail to act could be hit with fines reaching tens of millions of pounds by the communications regulator, Ofcom. Ms Phillips stated the Government expects Ofcom not to hesitate in using its full enforcement powers.
"Child sexual abuse is a vile crime that inflicts long-lasting trauma on victims," she said. "Lives are being wrecked by this abuse and women and girls bear the brunt."
Regulator Takes Urgent Action as Pressure Mounts
The controversy erupted last week, prompting Ofcom to make 'urgent contact' with both X and Musk's xAI company over serious concerns that Grok could produce sexualised images of children. A post on Grok's official X account admitted the company had 'identified lapses in safeguards' and was working urgently to fix them, stating clearly that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is illegal and prohibited.
Elon Musk responded, asserting that 'anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content'.
The Government is pushing forward with new legislation to combat this specific threat. Under proposed laws, creating, possessing, or distributing AI-generated abusive images of children could result in up to five years imprisonment. Additionally, Labour's Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy commits to outlawing so-called 'nudification' apps used to create deepfakes without consent.
Ms Phillips confirmed the Government has already legislated to make it an offence to create intimate deepfake images without consent using tools like Grok, and the Ministry of Justice will bring this into force urgently. Her final message to X and other tech platforms was stark: 'No more excuses. If they won’t act, we will.'
