London
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\n AI chatbot providers, including ChatGPT and Grok, are facing a crackdown on illegal content in the United Kingdom, as the government promises swift action to make the internet safer for children.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cToday we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action,\u201d UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement Monday.\n <\/p>\n
\n Britain\u2019s clampdown comes as artificial intelligence and social media have come under renewed fire for potential harms to young people after the Grok chatbot generated sexualized images of women and children<\/a> for weeks on X, prompting a major<\/a> global<\/a> backlash<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Central to the UK government\u2019s plan is an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which will require AI chatbot providers to comply with duties under the Online Safety Act to protect users from illegal content. Failure to do so could result in fines and other penalties.\n <\/p>\n \n The government will also seek new legal powers designed to fast-track future protections for children\u2019s wellbeing online.\n <\/p>\n \n This will enable it to act quickly on measures such as setting a minimum age of 16 for social media use \u2014 a proposal that opened for public consultation last month and follows similar developments in Australia<\/a> and Spain<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Other possible measures include curbing features such as infinite scrolling, tightening safeguards around the sharing of nude images, and examining restrictions on children\u2019s access to AI chatbots and virtual private networks.\n <\/p>\n \n The move highlights a push by legislators globally to ensure that domestic laws keep pace with the breakneck speed of advances in artificial intelligence. The UK\u2019s Online Safety Act, while an ambitious effort to regulate digital platforms, was passed in 2023, when AI chatbots were still in their infancy and were considerably less capable than they are barely three years later.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOne of the difficulties here is that the technology moves on so quickly that the legislation struggles to keep up, which is why for AI chatbots we need to take the necessary measures,\u201d Starmer told parents and young people during an address in south London on Monday.\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, the UK government joined a global outcry against Grok after it complied with user requests to generate sexualized images of women and children<\/a>. The function was subsequently removed, but not before the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, launched a formal investigation into X<\/a>, which integrates Grok, over the issue.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe action we took on Grok sent a clear message that no platform gets a free pass,\u201d Starmer, who has two teenage children, said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI see this in the way many parents do, with a real sense of concern about the time that\u2019s spent on social media, the content that\u2019s available on social media, the addictive nature of a lot of what\u2019s happening on social media \u2014 the way it draws children in and takes away other aspects of their growing up,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n