UK's Starmer moves to regulate AI chatbots under Online Safety Act amid child safety concerns

UK's Starmer Wants AI Chatbots to Follow Online Safety Rules

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is cracking down on AI chatbots sharing harmful content, pledging to ensure they comply with laws designed to protect children online. The UK will make all AI chatbot providers take responsibility for moderating and preventing illegal content in line with the Online Safety Act, the premier will announce in a speech Monday. That law currently applies only to platforms where users share content with one another, such as social media, rather than to private chatbots. "The government will 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," according to a statement ahead of Starmer's speech. "No platform gets a free pass," the Prime Minister will say in his speech. "Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk." The government is stepping up efforts to strengthen safeguards, particularly for children, in the age of AI. Last week, Starmer said he will enforce a law that bans the sexualization of people's images without their consent, calling such content generated by Grok, Elon Musk's AI product, as "disgusting and shameful." Starmer will also outline new legal powers to take immediate action to protect children online, allowing safeguards to keep up with rapidly-evolving technologies, rather than wait for new primary legislation. Such actions could include measures like setting a minimum age threshold for social media and limiting features like infinite scrolling, following the government's consultation on children's wellbeing online.

Makers of AI chatbots that put children at risk face big fines or UK ban

Starmer to announce 'crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI' after scandal involving Elon Musk's Grok tool 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 by AI chatbots and that he did not trust tech companies to design them safely. In one case, a 14-year-old girl who talked to an AI chatbot about her eating habits and body dysmorphia was given inaccurate information. In others, they have seen "young people who are self-harming even having content served up to them of more self-harming". "Social media has produced huge benefits for young people, but lots of harm," Sherwood said. "AI is going to be that on steroids if we're not careful." OpenAI, the $500bn San Francisco startup behind ChatGPT, one of the UK's most popular chatbots, and xAI, which makes Grok, were approached for comment. Since the Californian 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life after, his family allege, "months of encouragement from ChatGPT", OpenAI has launched parental controls and is rolling out age-prediction technology to restrict access to potentially harmful content. The government is also to consult on forcing social media platforms to make it impossible for users to send and receive nude images of children - a practice that is already illegal. Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, said: "We will not wait to take the action families need, so we will tighten the rules on AI chatbots and we are laying the ground so we can act at pace on the results of the consultation on young people and social media." The Molly Rose Foundation, which was set up by the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who killed herself after viewing harmful content online, called the steps "a welcome downpayment". But it called on the prime minister to commit to a new Online Safety Act "that strengthens regulation and makes clear that product safety and children's wellbeing is the cost of doing business in the UK".

UK Prime Minister Seeks New Powers to Regulate AI Chatbots as Child Safety Concerns Mount - Decrypt

U.S. attorney Preston Byrne said the GRANITE Act, a proposed American shield law against foreign censorship orders, would be used to counter any UK attempt to target U.S. VPN providers. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he will go to Parliament to seek new powers to regulate AI chatbots, and he's ready for a fight with the companies that have refused to act. In a Substack addressed directly to the public, Starmer said the government would tighten existing online safety laws to ensure AI chatbot providers are "firmly in scope," building on a recent ban on nudification apps and the criminalization of non-consensual intimate images. "No social media platform should get a free pass when it comes to protecting our kids," Starmer posted on X. "That's why I'm taking action." Pending public consultation, the proposed powers would allow the government to set age limits for social media, block features such as autoplay and endless scroll that keep children "hooked to their screens." It would also restrict VPN access for minors seeking to circumvent age limits. "Unlike the Tories, who took years to pass the Online Safety Act, we will take powers that would allow us to implement a minimum age for social media in a matter of months to prevent kids from accessing harmful social media," Starmer wrote. The announcements come amid international alarm over xAI's Grok chatbot, after the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated it generated 23,338 sexualized images of children in just 11 days, roughly one every 41 seconds. Evin McMullen, co-founder and CEO of Billions.Network, told Decrypt, the harm was entirely predictable. "Loosening guardrails to juice metrics in the short term is a reckless gamble when the fallout includes child exploitation material flooding platforms," McMullen said. "When you market 'spicy mode' as a feature and prioritize virality over safety, you're inviting exactly this kind of abuse. "Safeguarding children and privacy isn't a bug fix," he added. Both the independent regulatory and competition authority, Ofcom, and the country's Information Commissioner's Office opened probes into X earlier this month, warning of "serious concerns under UK data protection law." Ofcom said it could seek court-backed measures to block the platform if it is found to be non-compliant. Starmer's intervention has drawn criticism from the opposition, with Reform UK Chairman David Bull writing on X, "This government is out of control. Their priorities are all wrong while the country is being left to fall apart." Preston Byrne, managing partner of Byrne & Storm, P.C., and the author of the GRANITE Act, a proposed U.S. shield law formally introduced in Wyoming that would protect American digital service providers from foreign government censorship orders, warned the UK's move would trigger immediate legal retaliation. Meanwhile, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, writing in The Sunday Times this weekend, urged Starmer to treat AI as an economic opportunity rather than solely a safety problem, warning that failure to drive adoption could leave Britain as "a theme park for historically curious tourists." Sunak, now a senior adviser to Microsoft, said AI deployment in the public sector should be a top government priority, noting that the UK fell from 8th to 9th in Microsoft's global rankings of workplace AI adoption between the first and second halves of 2025. Starmer's AI chatbot regulation, centered on protecting children online, comes as he faces political fallout over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the U.S. last year. Mandelson, a former UK Cabinet minister and senior Labour figure, was later dismissed after disclosures in the Epstein files, court records, and official documents showed links to the convicted sex offender. Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, was a U.S. financier accused of trafficking and abusing underage girls.

Government announces sweeping 'crackdown' on social media firms

Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted nobody will get a 'free pass' from the new restrictions. The government has announced a sweeping "crackdown" on tech firms to protect children from illegal content. It will include measures to eliminate "vile illegal content created by AI," and could even open the door to an Australia-style age limit on social media, a Number 10 spokesperson said. It also promises to shut down the loophole that has allowed chatbots to produce illegal content. On Sunday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said "no platform gets a free pass" from the new restrictions. Under the plans, ministers will "shut a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act", according to a government announcement. Introduced in 2023, the Online Safety Act imposes strict duties on social media platforms - particularly in protecting children from harmful content. The government has also promised a consultation with tech firms to discuss how to best safeguard children. A spokesperson said that means "being able to act quickly on measures like setting a minimum age limit for social media and restricting features like infinite scrolling that are harmful". In December last year Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a mandatory minimum age of 16 for accessing social media platforms. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "As a dad of two teenagers, I know the challenges and the worries that parents face making sure their kids are safe online. "Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up. With my government, Britain will be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to online safety. "Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action. "We are acting to protect children's wellbeing and help parents to navigate the minefield of social media." Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: "I know that parents across the country want us to act urgently to keep their children safe online. "That's why I stood up to Grok and Elon Musk when they flouted British laws and British values. "We will not wait to take the action families need, so we will tighten the rules on AI chatbots and we are laying the ground so we can act at pace on the results of the consultation on young people and social media. "We are determined to give children the childhood they deserve and to prepare them for the future at a time of rapid technological change." Read more from Sky News: Foreign secretary denies PM is 'rattled' Inside the UK's van dwelling hotspots Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott dismissed the proposals as "more smoke and mirrors from a government that has chosen inaction when it comes to stopping under-16s accessing social media". Ms Trott said the evidence that social media content harms under-16s is "clear" and said they "should be prevented from accessing" it. Britain, she said, "is lagging behind while other countries have recognised the risks and begun to act". Her view was echoed by Dr Becky Foljambe, founder of Health Professionals for Safer Screens, who said ministers should "stop talking and act, as every day they dither, more children are harmed".