Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into X’s AI tool, Grok, over it being used to create sexualised imagery of women and children.
Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into X’s AI tool, Grok, over it being used to create sexualised imagery of women and children.
The media watchdog has said it contacted the social media platform on Monday last week and set a firm deadline of last Friday to “explain what steps it has taken to comply with its duties to protect its users in the UK”.
The company replied by the deadline, and Ofcom has since carried out an “expedited assessment of available evidence as a matter of urgency”.
It added the formal investigation will look into whether X, owned by tech titan Elon Musk, has “failed to comply with its legal obligations under the Online Safety Act”.
Mr Musk has accused the UK government of being “fascist” and trying to curb free speech after ministers stepped up threats to effectively block his website.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said on Monday Ofcom must complete its probe “swiftly” because “the public and most importantly the victims – will not accept any delay”.
“I welcome Ofcom’s urgency in launching a formal investigation today,” she said in a statement.
“It is vital that Ofcom complete this investigation swiftly because the public – and most importantly the victims – will not accept any delay.
“The content created and shared using Grok in recent days has been deeply disturbing and I will be updating Parliament later today on the Government’s response.”
Ministers have made it clear they would support Ofcom if it concludes that X should be banned in the UK.
But the Tories have said they do not think a ban would be the correct approach.
Trade Secretary Peter Kyle, who previously served as technology secretary, defended the UK’s Online Safety Act but said there was “more work to do” to protect people online, “particularly in places like X”.
“Let me be really clear about X – X is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online,” he told Sky News.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said US vice president JD Vance was sympathetic to efforts to tackle the Grok-produced images, although Donald Trump’s free speech tsar later compared the UK’s threats to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Mr Lammy, who met Mr Vance in the US on Thursday, told The Guardian he raised the issue of Grok “and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent”.
“He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable,” Mr Lammy said.
Source: 
news.sky.com
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