Article Starmer outraged that Musk's AI tool Grok used to make sexualized images (DIY fury)

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Grok assumes users seeking images of underage girls have “good intent”
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026...od-intent/

INTRO: For weeks, xAI has faced backlash over undressing and sexualizing images of women and children generated by Grok. One researcher conducted a 24-hour analysis of the Grok account on X and estimated that the chatbot generated over 6,000 images an hour flagged as “sexually suggestive or nudifying,” Bloomberg reported.

While the chatbot claimed that xAI supposedly “identified lapses in safeguards” that allowed outputs flagged as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and was “urgently fixing them,” Grok has proven to be an unreliable spokesperson, and xAI has not announced any fixes.

A quick look at Grok’s safety guidelines on its public GitHub shows they were last updated two months ago. The GitHub also indicates that, despite prohibiting such content, Grok maintains programming that could make it likely to generate CSAM... (MORE - details)

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'Get a grip' on Grok, Starmer tells X after AI tool is used for child sex images
https://news.sky.com/story/get-a-grip-on...s-13492111

INTRO: An artificial intelligence (AI) tool producing sexualised images of children will not be tolerated and is "disgusting" and "unlawful", the prime minister has said.

Sir Keir Starmer said social media platform X has "got to get a grip of" its AI tool, Grok, and that he's asked media regulator, Ofcom, for "all options to be on the table".

It follows reports from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) that criminals have been using Grok to create child sexual abuse imagery. Grok is an AI tool that X users can instruct to find out information, answer questions and create images.

The IWF revealed this week it had discovered criminal sexualised imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 that had been created by Grok.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio on Thursday, the prime minister said: "This is disgraceful. It's disgusting. And it's not to be tolerated. X has got to get a grip of this. And Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong."

X and xAI - which produces Grok - are both owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, and have been under fire for a number of days after a new feature led to users seeing AI-generated sexualised images of themselves on X.

Sir Keir added: "It's unlawful. We're not going to tolerate it. I've asked for all options to be on the table. It's disgusting. And X need to get their act together and get this material down. And we will take action on this because it's simply not tolerable."

Earlier in the day, former Labour cabinet minister Louise Haigh urged the PM and the rest of government to quit the social media platform. She said: "I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality."

Asked whether the government could stop using X on Wednesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "All options are on the table." (MORE - details)

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Supposedly Grok now requires a paying subscriber to be able to go further with the edits.

I would of just pointed out "what if Grok got a picture of Musk's Mother", the outcome might cause a rethink on what is acceptable.

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Supposedly Grok now requires a paying subscriber to be able to go further with the edits.

I would of just pointed out "what if Grok got a picture of Musk's Mother", the outcome might cause a rethink on what is acceptable.

I assume generative-AI in a broad context is a boon to the porn community -- i.e., that they're not just utilizing Grok or dependent on Grok. So it's ambiguous as to what the actual beef here is. Apparently, posting the stuff to X accounts? More about what X allows than Grok as the source of the images? Because if it's the latter, then restraining Grok isn't going to stop the output. For Pete's sake, there's surely an (illegal?) AI somewhere on the Dark Web exclusively set-up for and devoted to generating this stuff. (Albeit maybe currently inferior to Grok.)

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Sir Keir Starmer returns to X with warning over AI chatbot Grok row
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/...x-33238382

EXCERPTS: Sir Keir said he welcomed reports the company had imposed new restrictions on Grok, adding that free speech 'is not the freedom to violate consent'.

He wrote: "Young women's images are not public property, and their safety is not up for debate. I welcome that X is now acting to ensure full compliance with UK law – it must happen immediately. "If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepared to do that."

The move follows mounting pressure on X over images produced by Grok. Ofcom announced earlier this week it has launched a formal investigation into X over the creation of deepfake sexual images using its AI tool.

The UK media regulator raised concerns that the X's Grok was being used for potential 'intimate image abuse' and 'child sex abuse material'. The move follows concerns from the public and political figures over the images.

Sir Keir told broadcasters in Scotland on Thursday (January 15) he is 'glad' X has taken action to restrict 'absolutely disgusting' images generated by Grok, but said 'we’re not going to let this go'.

[....] X owner Elon Musk had previously claimed Grok would refuse to produce illegal content and appeared to blame 'adversarial hacking' for the chatbot’s generation of sexualised images. In a statement posted on X, the company later said it would 'geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal'... (MORE - missing details)