The world’s richest man accused the British Government of being “fascist” amid reports of Grok creating sexualised AI images of people, including children.
Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Government of being ‘fascist’. (Image: Getty)
Elon Musk has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Government of being “fascist” in the ongoing row over AI-generated sexualised images on X. Ministers recently amped up threats to ban the world’s richest man’s social media platform after its AI feature Grok created fake images of people, including children.
However, Mr Musk maintained that critics just “want any excuse for censorship” and claimed other AI programs created non-sexualised images of women in bikinis. In another post on X, he responded to a chart showing arrest figures for online posts with the UK at the top, writing: “Why is the UK government so fascist?”
There have been reports of Grok making AI-generated sexualised images. (Image: Getty)
The criticism of X has focused on Grok’s production of images of child abuse and the manipulation of photographs of real women and girls to remove their clothes.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she would back regulator Ofcom if it decided to effectively block the social media platform for failing to comply with UK laws.
She said: “Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent.”
Ofcom said it was undertaking an “expedited assessment” after X and Grok’s creator xAI responded to contact from the regulator.
It has the power under the Online Safety Act to fine businesses up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue, as well as to take criminal action.
The regulator can also order payment providers, advertisers and internet service providers to stop working with a site, effectively banning them, though this would require agreement from the courts.
In response, Mr Musk shared a post from US legislator Anna Paulina Luna that threatened to sanction both Sir Keir and the UK if X was blocked.
X appeared to have changed Grok’s settings on Friday, as it said only paid subscribers could ask it to manipulate images.
However, reports suggested that this only applied to those making requests in response to other posts. Other ways of editing or creating images, including on a separate Grok website, reportedly remained open.
Ms Kendall said it was “totally unacceptable for Grok to allow this if you’re willing to pay for it”, adding that she expected an update on Ofcom’s next steps “in days, not weeks”.
She also pointed to plans to ban nudity apps as part of the Crime and Policing Bill going through Parliament, and said powers to criminalise the creation of intimate images without consent would come into force in the coming weeks.
