Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool which allows users to virtually undress people could be banned, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls has said.
Jess Phillips said that the use of Grok to create “degrading, non-consensual intimate images” was an “absolute disgrace”.
The government has refused to rule out boycotting X after the social media platform’s AI tool responded to thousands of prompts from users to put bikinis on images of women or pose them in sexualised ways without their consent.
Under its Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, which was published last month, the government will seek to ban nudification apps, which allow users to digitally undress people.
Jess Phillips
KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/AP
Phillips said: “The use of AI tools like Grok to create degrading, non-consensual images is an absolute disgrace. Lives can be devastated by tools like this being used to create intimate images to abuse, torment and harass people and the crime disproportionately targets women and girls.
“The UK will become the first country in the world to make it illegal for sick predators to possess, create or distribute AI tools which are designed to generate child sexual abuse content, with offenders facing up to five years behind bars.
“We will also ban those abhorrent tools which are designed to create non-consensual intimate images.”
She called on social media companies to protect users from “unfair violation” and warned that they could be fined up to £18 million if they failed to meet their legal duties under the Online Safety Act. The government said that “all options were on the table”, including a potential boycott of the social media platform.
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The prime minister said: “What we’ve seen on Grok is a disgrace. It is completely unacceptable. No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online and we won’t allow the proliferation of these demeaning images.”
Asked if the government would stop using the app, he said: “All options are on the table.”
The Commons women and equalities committee has already announced that it will stop using X.
Sarah Owen, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said: “It has become increasingly clear that X — a platform now actively producing explicit and abusive material against women and children — is not an appropriate platform to be using for our comms.”
On Tuesday, xAI, the artificial intelligence company behind Grok, announced that it had raised $20 billion in its latest funding round and touted Grok’s image-generation abilities as part of the announcement.
X has previously said: “We take action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material, by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.
“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”