Elon Musk's X is in more hot water, and with threats of it being banned in one of the world's most influential countries, it seems that we’re straying further from Twitter with every day. Ever since the world's richest man’s purchase of Twitter went through back in October 2022, there's been a storm of controversy.
More than just people leaving in their droves and Musk managing to slash billions of the platform's worth, there have been mounting lawsuits from disgruntled Twitter staff and potential fines for breaching European Union digital laws.
While Elon Musk remains the driving force behind X, its poster boy is arguably Grok – xAI's generative artificial intelligence that bills itself as a 'sassy' alternative to ChatGPT.
It's all well and good for poking fun at Joe Biden, creating 'sexy' avatars that are just the right side of being suitable for work, and praising Musk as the greatest guy who's ever lived, but when it's referring to itself as MechaHitler, becomes stuck on white genocide, and apparently asks minors to send nudes, there are obvious causes for concern. The latest fiasco in Grok's short lifespan has seen it accused of creating indecent images with young women and girls.
Advert
While Grok will comply with prompts where you ask it to remove your hat, give you a pair of shades, or turn you into the President of the United States, alarm bells were ringing when it appeared to manipulate images of subjects into NSFW conditions. Worse yet, it was done without their permission.
In the aftermath of Malaysia, India, and France threatening legal action against xAI over Grok's latest fumble, Sir Keir Starmer has suggested that X could face a blanket ban in the United Kingdom.
Even though X is already banned in the likes of China and North Korea due to their strict social media laws, banning it from the United Kingdom and locking out its 69 million residents would be an almost unheard-of move.
Advert
There have been recent complaints that the UK is turning into a nanny state with its new regulations on access to pornographic materials, but the Prime Minister is making it clear that the Grok situation can't be allowed to slip through the net.
Referring to these 'unlawful' images, Starmer says he has "full support to take action" from media regulator Ofcom.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Starmer vented: "It’s unlawful. We’re not going to tolerate it. I’ve asked for all options to be on the table. It’s disgusting. X need to get their act together and get this material down.
Advert
“We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.”
As reported by The Independent, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) confirmed that Grok has been used to create “criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13."
Ofcom has supposedly made 'urgent contact' with xAI, but looking closer at the Online Safety Act, there is power for the regulator to force payment providers, advertisers, and internet service providers to stop working with a site in extreme conditions. If this is the case, X would effectively be banned in the UK.
There's already mounting pressure for Starmer's Labour Party to quit the platform, with minister Anna Turley confirming that “conversations are taking place."
Advert
When pushed on the matter, Turley reiterated: "You know, it’s really important that we make sure that we’re in a safe space. But the priority is, firstly, X needs to get its act together.”
Grok's apology said that while AI has safeguards, "improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely.”
At the time of writing, only paying subscribers can access Grok's image generation and editing tools.