UK PM Starmer says X moves to comply with UK law over AI deepfakes

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law after the country’s media regulator launched a probe into the platform over sexualised imagery produced by the Grok AI chatbot.

“I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law,” Starmer told parliament, adding that the government would take further measures if needed.

Shortly after Starmer spoke, Musk posted on X that Grok will always comply with the law of the countries in which it operates.

“When asked to generate images, it (Grok) will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state,” he said.

Earlier in January, X said that it was restricted requests to undress people in images to paying users.

Ofcom launched an investigation into the social media platform on Monday over concerns Grok was creating sexually intimate deepfake images in violation of its duty to protect people in the UK from illegal content.

Technology minister Liz Kendall said a new law making it an offence to create sexual deepfakes would come into force this week to tackle the images, which she called “weapons of abuse”.

UK investigates Musk’s X over Grok deepfake concerns

UK’s media regulator launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X on Monday over concerns its Grok AI chatbot was creating sexually intimate deepfake images in violation of its duty to protect people in the UK from illegal content.

The British government said a new law making it an offence to create sexual deepfakes would come into force this week to tackle the images, which it called “weapons of abuse”.

Technology Minister Liz Kendall told lawmakers on Monday that the government also plans legislation that will tackle the problem at the source by making it illegal for companies to supply tools designed to create deepfakes.