Canadian government mulls response to X’s AI-generated sexual abuse material

Canadian government officials are weighing options, including a potential RCMP investigation, into the ongoing publication of AI-generated sexual abuse imagery on X.

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.

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.