X announces measures to prevent Grok from undressing images

PROBE OVER SEXUALISED AI IMAGES

California launched an investigation Wednesday into Grok, as European officials said they were assessing corrective measures promised by the company.

The probe comes after Indonesia and Malaysia blocked access to Grok entirely, while Britain’s media regulator launched its own investigation after users created lewd images using simple text prompts.

India said Sunday that X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

“I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further. We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material.”

Bonta said the investigation would determine whether and how xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet”.

Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” feature allowed users to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children using prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes”.

But the European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, said it had taken note of “additional measures X is taking to ban Grok from generating sexualised images of women and children”.

“We will carefully assess these changes to make sure they effectively protect citizens in the EU,” EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in a statement.