Global backlash over AI tool Grok sexualised images

Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok faced growing international backlash Monday for generating sexualised deepfakes of women and minors, with the European Union joining the condemnation and Britain warning of an investigation.

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Screens displaying the logo of Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, the American company specialising in artificial intelligence and it's founder South African businessman Elon Musk.

(AFP)

Complaints of abuse flooded the Internet after the recent rollout of an "edit image" button on Grok, which enabled users to alter online images with prompts such as "put her ina bikini" or "remove her clothes."

The digital undressing spree, which follows growing concerns among tech campaigners over proliferating AI "nudify" apps, prompted swift probes or calls for remedial action from countries including France, India and Malaysia.

The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, joined the chorus on Monday, saying it was "very seriously looking" into the complaints about Grok, developed by Musk’s startup xAI and integrated into his social media platform X.

"Grok is now offering a ‘spicy mode’ showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images. This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling," said EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier.