Government demands X act over 'appalling' Grok AI deepfakes

Joins France, Malaysia and India in demanding action

The government has demanded social media platform X act quickly after its AI chatbot, Grok, was used to generate sexualised images of women and children without their consent.

The Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, described the situation as "absolutely appalling" and said the government would not tolerate the spread of what she called degrading and abusive content.

"We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these images," she said, adding that platforms had a clear legal duty to act.

The intervention follows "urgent contact" made by the media regulator Ofcom with X and its AI subsidiary, xAI, after concerns that Grok was producing what the regulator described as "undressed images" of real people.

"Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation," an Ofcom spokesperson said earlier this week.

Kendall said she fully backed Ofcom's approach and any enforcement action it might take.

"It is absolutely right that Ofcom is looking into this as a matter of urgency and it has my full backing to take any enforcement action it deems necessary," she said.

The Technology Secretary stressed that the issue was about enforcing the law rather than limiting free expression.

"Services and operators have a clear obligation to act appropriately. This is not about restricting freedom of speech but upholding the law," she said.

She added that the government had made intimate image abuse and cyberflashing priority offences under the Online Safety Act, including cases where images are generated using AI.

Grok is a free virtual assistant, with some premium features, that responds to user prompts when it is tagged in posts on X.

The BBC says it has seen multiple examples in which users asked Grok to manipulate real pictures to place women into sexualised scenarios.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has also identified “criminal imagery” of underage girls that appears to have created using Grok.

Concerns have grown since X introduced an "Edit Image" button, which allows users to alter images using text prompts even if they did not upload the original photograph and without the consent of the person shown.

Several women whose images were altered in this way have described the experience as dehumanising.

Dr Daisy Dixon, a frequent X user, said she began seeing people take everyday photographs she had posted on the platform and ask Grok to sexualise her.

She told the BBC the images left her feeling "humiliated" and fearful for her personal safety.

While she said she found the Technology Secretary's intervention "heartening", she shared her frustration at what she described as X's lack of accountability.

"I don't want to open my X app anymore as I'm frightened about what I might see."

X said it takes action against illegal content on the platform, including child sexual abuse material.

"Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content," the platform said.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, has called on the government to move swiftly to prevent the creation of sexualised images using the chatbot.

He suggested one option could be to reduce access to X if the concerns were substantiated.

"People like Elon Musk have to be held to account," Davey said.

The Online Safety Act makes it illegal to create or share intimate or sexually explicit images without a person's consent, including those generated using AI.

The law also requires tech firms to take appropriate steps to limit users' exposure to such material, and to remove it quickly once it is identified.