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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

> [A] new criminal offence will make it illegal for companies to supply tools designed to create non-consensual intimate images, targeting the problem at its source.

Well, yes, if one considers trying to prosecute a non-UK company or its directors "targeting the problem". I imagine that this might run into problems in the USA.

In the same speech, the government defends staying on Twitter:

> It is also worth bearing in mind, with 19 million people on X in this country, and more than a quarter using it as their primary source of news, that our views – and often simply the facts – need to be heard.

*sigh*

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/secretary-of-state-statement-to-the-house-of-commons-12-january-2026

GOV.UK

Secretary of State statement to the House of Commons: 12 January 2026

DSIT Secretary of State statement after concerns over Grok AI.
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HeatherMJ
HeatherMJ
@HeatherMJ@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

@neil
19 million on X leaves a "lot" of who are not

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it's kat! 🇵🇸✊
it's kat! 🇵🇸✊
@kathimmel@mstdn.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

@neil weak sauce.

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Yvan
Yvan
@yvan@toot.ale.gd replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil I bet nothing even close to a quarter of a supposed 19m "people" on "X" in the UK are regularly relying on it as a key source of GOV.UK information. And of whatever number may do so I expect most would just look elsewhere if it wasn't on "X".

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Tats 🇬🇧🫖
Tats 🇬🇧🫖
@Tattooed_Mummy@beige.party replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil pathetic. They've got a website. People can visit that!

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Marianne
Marianne
@noodlemaz@mstdn.games replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil pathetic isn't it.

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chrisgerhard
chrisgerhard
@chrisgerhard@mastodon.green replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil the point of the AI slop machines is they are not designed to do specific things, but are given lots of data and asked to do things. I think proving that groks AI porn bot was designed to do that is going to be hard.

Will they ban paint brushes as well as someone could use them to paint a naked portrait?

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Jennifer C J Radtke
Jennifer C J Radtke
@RadtkeJCJ@mastodon.scot replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@chrisgerhard @neil

I do think there is potential for a painting to be abusive. But it is rate-limited, and it would be quite rare to cross paths with someone with the time, motivation and skill to create an abusive painting, or even a realistic digitally edited image.

At the moment it seems that the only barrier is the ability to ask for the abusive image, and having a source image. That bothers me significantly.

Targeting tools that make it easy seems helpful.

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chrisgerhard
chrisgerhard
@chrisgerhard@mastodon.green replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@RadtkeJCJ @neil i think its entirely reasonable to say grok is legally responsible for all it creates. That is different from what is proposed though which as reported will be very hard to police.

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Jennifer C J Radtke
Jennifer C J Radtke
@RadtkeJCJ@mastodon.scot replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@chrisgerhard @neil

My initial reaction was the same as your- it isn't designed to do anything particular.

However, design is also about intent... and I wonder if questions about their (limited) reaction and the reasoning behind it having the functionality to create intimate images at all might be enough to show it is "designed" to do this ? I also wonder if language like "reckless" in the legislation might be useful here, to avoid the "it just does it" dodge.

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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@RadtkeJCJ @chrisgerhard

As in, an implicit obligation to design out that output?

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Jennifer C J Radtke
Jennifer C J Radtke
@RadtkeJCJ@mastodon.scot replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil @chrisgerhard

I think that would be interesting to explore. It seems like such an egregious abuse that designing against it would be a reasonable thing to do. Tech products already add things like rate limits to protect the technical infrastructure from abuse, and design for security.

I don't think it would be reasonable to have a minor bug (fixed rapidly) be a criminal offence though. So there is some nuance needed.

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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@chrisgerhard @RadtkeJCJ

> i think its entirely reasonable to say grok is legally responsible for all it creates.

Grok?

Or the company which created / operates grok?

Or its directors?

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chrisgerhard
chrisgerhard
@chrisgerhard@mastodon.green replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil @RadtkeJCJ the company operating it. They have made a choice to do this. This should be their risk.

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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@chrisgerhard

I will need to see the actual legislative language, but I can well imagine that it might get hung up on "designed to", yes.

And yes, as with computer misuse stuff (and other stuff), separately the lawful but with the potential for misuse, from the unlawful, will be key.

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⊥ᵒᵚ⁄Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️
⊥ᵒᵚ⁄Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️
@falken@qoto.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil @chrisgerhard devil will be in the details. Likely unenforceable fines will be levelled anyway. Are #ofcom then *really* going to deprive "almost a quarter of people" from access to news and ban #Twitter?

#onlineSafetyAct

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Graham Smith
Graham Smith
@cyberleagle@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil @chrisgerhard CBS v Amstrad, for lawyers with long memories. Of course the debate is now distorted by the shift from selling products to providing services.

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Graham Smith
Graham Smith
@cyberleagle@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil @chrisgerhard The service aspect of course makes it much easier to argue that because the provider can exercise some degree of control over what users do with the service, it ought to do so.

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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@cyberleagle @chrisgerhard

Indeed. I am not sure how well the CPS will fare in attempting to prosecute a UK offence against a provider outside the UK, especially if there is no equivalent/comparable offence under domestic law?

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tautology
tautology
@tautology@infosec.exchange replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil but that wouldn't fix the current problem as the Grok isn't designed to create those images.

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Neil Brown
Neil Brown
@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@tautology Yes, the precise language will be key.

Plus, it is run from outside the UK.

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greem
greem
@greem@cyberplace.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 6 days ago

@neil I don't believe that latter statistic for one moment. A quarter of that, perhaps - still a large number, but HMG would make a massive point by deleting their account.

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