Makers of AI chatbots that put children at risk will face massive fines or even see their services blocked in the UK under law changes to be announced by Keir Starmer on Monday.
Emboldened by Elon Musk’s X stopping its Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people in the UK after public outrage last month, ministers are planning a “crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI”.
With more and more children using chatbots for everything from help with their homework to mental health support, the government said it would “move fast to shut a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act or face the consequences of breaking the law”.
Starmer is also planning to accelerate new restrictions on social media use by children if they are agreed by MPs after a public consultation into a possible under-16 ban. It means that any changes to children’s use of social media, which may include other measures such as restricting infinite scrolling, could happen as soon as this summer.
But the Conservatives dismissed the government’s claim to be acting quickly as “more smoke and mirrors” given the consultation has not yet started.
“Claiming they are taking ‘immediate action’ is simply not credible when their so-called urgent consultation does not even exist,” said Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary. “Labour have repeatedly said they do not have a view on whether under-16s should be prevented from accessing social media. That is not good enough. I am clear that we should stop under-16s accessing these platforms.”
The moves come after the online regulator Ofcom admitted it lacked powers to act against Grok because images and videos that are created by a chatbot without it searching the internet are not in the scope of the existing laws, unless it amounts to pornography. The change to bring AI chatbots under the Online Safety Act could happen within weeks, although the loophole has been known about for more than two years.
“Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up,” said Starmer. “The action we took on Grok sent a clear message that no platform gets a free pass. Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action.”
Companies that breach the Online Safety Act can face punishments of up to 10% of global revenue and regulators can apply to courts to block their connection in the UK.
If AI chatbots are used specifically as search engines, to produce pornography or operate in user-to-user contexts, they are already covered by the act. But they can be used to create material that encourages people to self-harm or take their own lives, or even generate child sexual abuse material, without facing sanction. That is the loophole the government says it wants to close.
The chief executive of the NSPCC, Chris Sherwood, said young people were contacting its helpline reporting harms caused…
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