UK PM Starmer says X taking steps to follow UK law on AI Deepfakes

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s platform X is taking steps to ensure full compliance with UK law, following an investigation by the country’s media regulator into sexualised imagery generated 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 necessary.

Shortly after, Musk posted on X that Grok will always follow the laws of the countries where it operates. He said that when asked to generate images, Grok will refuse to produce anything illegal, emphasizing its principle to obey local laws.

Earlier this month, X limited requests to undress people in images to paying users only.

The UK media regulator Ofcom launched an investigation on Monday over concerns that Grok was creating sexually explicit deepfake images, potentially violating its responsibility to protect people from illegal content.

Technology Minister Liz Kendall said a new law targeting sexual deepfakes would come into force this week, describing such images as “weapons of abuse.”