YouGov survey finds Elon Musk continues to be very unpopular in the UK following new controversy over his firm’s Grok AI tool
Elon Musk’s company xAI is in hot water currently, following criticism that an image-editing feature of its AI tool Grok is being used to digitally ‘undress’ photos of women and, in some reported cases, apparent children, without consent.
While the Grok tool on X / Twitter has guardrails that prevent it from creating nude or sexually explicit images, users have been prompting the tool to create images depicting women – including female users of the platform – and children in states of undress, including wearing bikinis and lingerie.
Ofcom has made “urgent contact” with the company, which warned users not to make or post illegal content on the platform and will work with law enforcement where necessary, with Elon Musk saying that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”.
A new YouGov survey shows that the British public overwhelmingly believe AI companies should not be allowed to generate such imagery. Fully 96% of Britons say that firms should not be allowed to generate ‘undressed’ images of children (only 1% say they should), with 87% saying the same regarding such images of adults (5% think this is ok).
More than nine in ten (92-97%) likewise agree with existing guardrails that prevent AI tools being used to generate sexually explicit content of children, or of adults without their consent, as well as instructions for self-harm, making weapons or illegal drugs, and generating hate speech.
Seven in ten (72%) likewise say that AI tools should not be allowed to generate realistic images of public figures, although 12% disagree.
Elon Musk and X / Twitter remain very unpopular in the UK
It does not appear from the results that the latest row has affected public attitudes towards the platform or its founder. While the same survey shows that Elon Musk continues to be very unpopular in the UK - with just 13% of Britons having a favourable view of the X CEO while 73% hold an unfavourable view - these figures are similar to those from our previous survey in September.
Likewise, public attitudes towards X / Twitter are largely in line with the last time we asked (in January 2025), with 12% having a favourable opinion of the social media platform and 65% a negative view.
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