UK Government responds to 'sickening' Grok posts mocking Hillsborough and Munich

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The UK Government has slammed AI-generated posts mocking the Hillsborough and Munich disasters as 'sickening and irresponsible' and going against 'British values'. Users of the social media platform X have used their in-built AI tool Grok to construct the posts, which have now been deleted.

As well as both disasters, the heart-breaking death of former Liverpool forward Diogo Jota had also been a target. The Mirror has seen the vile comments but have decided not to publish them in full given the nature of the contents.

The UK Government has now spoken out and condemned the posts. In a statement shared by the BBC , the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: "These posts are sickening and irresponsible. They go against British values and decency.

"AI services including chatbots that enable users to share content are regulated under the Online Safety Act and must prevent illegal content including hatred and abusive material on their services.

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"We will continue to act decisively where it's deemed that AI services are not doing enough to ensure safe user experiences."

A spokesperson for UK watchdog Ofcom added: "Under the Online Safety Act, tech firms must assess the risk of people in the UK encountering illegal content on their platforms, take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of UK users encountering it, and take it down quickly when they become aware of it. Those companies that do not comply can expect to face enforcement action."

The statements from both the Government and Ofcom come after action from both Premier League sides in attempting to get the posts taken down. Both xAI, an American artificial intelligence company, and X are owned by Elon Musk , who completed a takeover of the social media platform in 2022.

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It is not the first time that X and Grok have come under scrutiny over recent months. They were both under the microscope earlier this year when the tool was used to undress people in images shared on social media.

Ofcom subsequently launched an investigation into xAI, who announced in January they had "implemented technological measures" to prevent the tool from doing so moving forward.

The latest controversy revolves around users prompting the AI tool to generate posts about both the Munich and Hillsborough disasters. Another user asked Grok to "vulgarly roast" Jota, with the subsequent post having been viewed over two million times before it was deleted.

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