{"id":361103,"date":"2026-01-09T15:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361103\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:33:08","slug":"keir-starmer-dismisses-elon-musks-changes-to-grok-as-insulting-to-victims-amid-row-over-ai-generated-sexual-images-of-children-with-pm-urging-x-owner-to-take-further-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361103\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer dismisses Elon Musk’s changes to Grok as ‘insulting’ to victims amid row over AI-generated sexual images of children – with PM urging X owner to take further action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> today dismissed Elon Musk<\/a>‘s changes to his AI<\/a> tool as ‘insulting’ to victims amid a furious row over sexual images on the billionaire’s X social media site.<\/p>\n

Downing Street<\/a> reiterated the Prime Minister was leaving ‘all options’ on the table as regulator Ofcom<\/a> looks into X and xAI, the firm which created the Grok AI tool.<\/p>\n

There has been a widespread outcry after Grok, which is available on X, was found to have been used to\u00a0produce naked images of people, including children.<\/p>\n

The tool was also reported to have been used to manipulate images of women to remove their clothes and put them in sexualised positions.<\/p>\n

Grok has now stopped generating images for most of X users, with the AI tool limiting its image generation and editing features to only paying subscribers of the site.<\/p>\n

But Downing Street on Friday said this was ‘not a solution’ and warned it had merely turned the generation of unlawful images into a ‘premium service’.<\/p>\n

The PM’s spokesman said:\u00a0‘That move\u2026 that simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.<\/p>\n

‘It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence. What it does prove is that X can move swiftly when it wants to do so.’<\/p>\n

\"Downing <\/p>\n

Downing Street reiterated the Prime Minister was leaving ‘all options’ on the table as regulator Ofcom looks into X and xAI, the firm which created the Grok AI tool\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"No10 <\/p>\n

No10 dismissed Elon Musk’s changes to his AI tool as ‘insulting’ to victims amid a furious row over sexual images on the billionaire’s X social media site<\/p>\n

\"Anna <\/p>\n

Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives, warned Sir Keir against any effort to ban X, formerly known as Twitter, in Britain<\/p>\n

Join the debate<\/p>\n

Should Britain risk US sanctions to crack down on AI-generated sexual images online?<\/p>\n

The spokesman added: ‘You heard the Prime Minister yesterday. He was abundantly clear that X needs to act and needs to act now, it is time for X to grip this issue.<\/p>\n

‘If another media company had billboards in town centres showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash.’<\/p>\n

Downing Street reiterated ‘all options’ are on the table, including for Ofcom to use its powers to ‘take any action’.<\/p>\n

It came after an ally of US President Donald Trump threatened to slap sanctions on Britain if Sir Keir takes action against X over AI-generated sexual images.<\/p>\n

Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives<\/a>, warned the PM against any effort to ban X, formerly known as Twitter<\/a>, in Britain.<\/p>\n

She vowed to bring forward legislation to sanction both Sir Keir and the UK as a whole if Sir Keir attempted to shut down the social media site owned by Mr Musk.<\/p>\n

Ms Luna, who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, claimed critics of X were launching a ‘political war’ against Mr Musk and ‘free speech’.<\/p>\n

A message sent by Grok on X to users requesting image editing currently says: ‘Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers.<\/p>\n

‘You can subscribe to unlock these features.’<\/p>\n

Sir Keir on Thursday called on X to ‘get their act together’ amid concerns about the AI creation of sexualised images of adults and children on the site.<\/p>\n

‘This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting. And it’s not to be tolerated,’ the PM told Greatest Hits Radio.<\/p>\n

‘X has got to get a grip of this. Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong.<\/p>\n

‘It’s unlawful. We’re not going to tolerate it. I’ve asked for all options to be on the table.<\/p>\n

‘It’s disgusting. X need to get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.’<\/p>\n

Ms Luna later responded to suggestions that X could be banned in Britain under powers within the Online Safety Act.<\/p>\n

She posted on X: ‘If Starmer is successful in banning X\u00a0in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole.<\/p>\n

‘This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024-2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions and consequences tied to free speech concerns against Brazilian officials over concerns related to censorship and free-speech violations.<\/p>\n

‘Starmer should reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘There are always technical bugs during the early phases of new technology, especially AI, and those issues are typically addressed quickly.<\/p>\n

‘X treats these matters seriously and acts promptly. Let’s be clear: this is not about technical compliance.<\/p>\n

‘This is a political war against @elonmusk\u00a0and free speech – nothing more.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer today dismissed Elon Musk‘s changes to his AI tool as ‘insulting’ to victims amid a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,97,50,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-361103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-dailymail","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}