There are “active discussions” across the Canadian government on how to respond to X.com’s continued generation of sexual abuse material, Global News has learned.
The social media platform allows its AI chatbot, Grok, to produce sexualized images of people without their consent, including reportedly creating child sexual abuse material. The use of the tool to create non-consensual intimate images became widespread in late December, leading to an outcry both online and from governments that has been growing over January.
Multiple federal departments, including Public Safety Canada, the Department of Justice, Canadian Culture and Identity and A.I. Minister Evan Solomon’s office are involved in crafting a Canadian response to the scandal, as governments across the world weigh investigations and regulatory action against the company.
It’s not clear what options the Canadian government is considering, but Solomon ruled out an outright ban of the platform, which is owned by Elon Musk.
“Contrary to media reports, Canada is not considering a ban of X,” the minister posted on the platform early Sunday morning.
Solomon was responding to a report in the Telegraph suggesting the U.K. government was trying to “rally” like-minded countries such as Canada and Australia for a “crackdown” on X. Solomon is expected to provide an update to Canada’s response within the next day.
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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called the use of Grok to create non-consensual sexual images “disgusting” and “disgraceful,” while the country’s technology minister said she would back a regulator’s ban of the social media platform for violating online safety laws.
Musk, the world’s richest man who has joked about Grok’s sexualized image output, responded, saying the U.K.’s Labour government wants “any excuse for censorship.” X has suggested that the company would put restrictions on Grok’s image generation feature, but as of Sunday morning the creation of “sexualized” and pornographic images was still available to users with free accounts.
A Canadian government source told Global News that it’s not clear which discussions between the U.K. and Canada the Telegraph story was referring to. A spokesperson for Solomon’s office, Sofia Ouslis, said the minister has not been in touch with his U.K. counterparts.
Starmer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday morning.
Solomon’s office said Sunday that the Canadian response could include an RCMP investigation into AI-generated child sexual abuse material, although there could be more requirements – such as reporting the crime to local police – before launching such an investigation.
The Criminal Code criminalizes “all child sexual abuse and exploitation material, depicting both real and fictional children,” read a statement from the Department of Justice.
The department noted that internet service providers are required by law to report “when they are advised of an internet address where child sexual abuse and exploitation material may be available to the public.”
“They are also required to report to law enforcement if they have reasonable grounds to believe that their Internet service is being or has been used to commit a child sexual abuse and exploitation material offence,” the statement added.
Governments around the world have announced intentions to investigate X or take regulatory action against the platform in response to the scandal, including Indonesia, which banned the Grok AI tool Saturday according to Agence France-Presse.
The European Commission has ordered Musk and X to retain documents related to Grok’s output, signalling an intent to investigate the issue.
A group of U.S. Democratic senators have asked Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to remove X from their respective app stores until the company addresses the situation, Reuters reported on Friday.
Several other governments — including important X markets like India and Brazil – as well as officials in Australia, France, and Ireland have signalled probes into the company’s activities.
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