The UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, has condemned the use of Elon Musk's Grok AI tool to digitally undress photos of women and children, calling it 'demeaning and degrading'. The scandal has prompted government ministers to consider banning X, the platform hosting the tool, while Musk has accused them of suppressing free speech.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told the Guardian that US Vice-President JD Vance agreed the proliferation of AI-generated sexualised images was 'entirely unacceptable'. The abuse has escalated rapidly, with child protection groups stating that some images meet the legal definition of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Content analysis firm Copyleaks reported that X users were generating 'roughly one nonconsensual sexualised image per minute' by late December. Nearly three-quarters of posts analysed by Trinity College Dublin researcher Nana Nwachukwu were requests for such images of real women or minors.
X blocked non-paying users from Grok's image generation tool on Friday, but Downing Street described this as 'unacceptable', saying it merely turned an unlawful feature into a premium service. The Guardian's global technology editor, Dan Milmo, noted the incident reflects a familiar Silicon Valley pattern of prioritising growth over safety.
