THAT the AI app Grok was able to generate deepfake sexualised images of women and children, and post them on social media, was “truly appalling” and must be stopped, the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, said.
The Internet Watch Foundation revealed this week that criminals had been using Grok — the AI Chatbot created by Elon Musk, owner of X — to create non-consensual intimate images, including images of minors.
Speaking to Labour MPs on Monday, the Prime Minister warned that X could lose the “right to self-regulate” and that, “If X cannot control Grok, we will.”
The Government planned, he said, to push through legislation to criminalise the supply of online tools used to create such images.
Grok responded to a widespread outcry last week by switching off the image-creation function for non-subscribers, the majority of users. There are estimated to be about 650,000 paid subscribers.
Writing in his blog on Saturday, Dr Croft, who is the lead bishop on AI and technology, said: “There has rightly been a public outcry and Grok and X have rightly been condemned by politicians of all parties.” He agreed that the regulator, Ofcom, should “use all the powers available under the Online Safety Act” to control the platform.
Ofcom has since announced that it is launching an investigation into X over the “deeply concerning reports” about the use of Grok. If X is found to have broken the law, Ofcom can potentially issue a fine of up to ten per cent of X’s worldwide revenue — or £18 million — whichever is greater, the BBC reports.
Dr Croft writes: “From a perspective of Christian faith, all the major world faiths, and civil society, the unleashing of this capacity in Grok by X is truly appalling. The sexualised deepfakes of real individuals used without their consent [are] immensely damaging to the individuals’ dignity and the dignity of our society.
“The damage is long lasting because the images are almost impossible to take down. I completely support the calls to X to withdraw the service and to Ofcom to investigate and to enforce the law. I support the Government’s drive to ban nudification apps through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.”
Dr Croft, who last year chaired an interdisciplinary Westminster seminar exploring the dangers of deepfakes, said that society also had a responsibility to acknowledge the risks of AI, and the potential damage to both “individuals and the common good”.
Speaking about the seminar, he said: “The evidence given by the Internet Watch Foundation and many others was appalling then, before Grok’s new capacities were unveiled. Many other platforms offer similar facilities.”
He recommended that every MP, parent, and individual read a study by Laura Bates: The New Age of Sexism: How the AI revolution is reinventing misogyny. “There are direct links between these trends and the rising tide of violence against women and girls which the government is rightly keen to combat.”
While he welcomed interventions by Sir Keir Starmer and the Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Liz Kendall, “the country urgently need a robust new framework for responsible AI deployment which identifies benefits (of course) but which also highlights risks and dangers and brings forward new regulation. The Government came into office with the expectation of a comprehensive AI bill but so far nothing has emerged.”
He appealed for a continued “robust stance across the entire technology sector: deepfakes; mobile phones in school; young people and social media; the environmental impact of technology; the use of personal data; the risks of general AI and much more”.
Dr Croft also co-chairs the Anglican Communion Science Commission, a global body of senior church leaders and scientists.