Elon Musk has landed himself in hot water with the British government. The UK’s Technology Secretary has pressed the billionaire to urgently resolve the misuse of Grok, the AI chatbot on X, which Elon owns.
Elon Musk’s X platform includes the AI Grok, which is creating deepfakes
According to numerous posts online, confirmed by the BBC, Grok is being used to create non-consensual sexualized images of women and girls. In some examples, the bot has digitally undressed people to make them appear in bikinis without their consent. In others, they’ve been put into sexual situations.
“No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online,” Liz Kendall said on 6th January. She described the situation as “absolutely appalling.”
“We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these degrading images,” the Tech Secretary added.
Her statement comes after Ofcom (the UK’s independent regulator for the communications industries) confirmed it is investigating concerns about Grok. The MP welcomed Ofcom’s decision. “It is absolutely right that Ofcom is looking into this as a matter of urgency,” she said. “It has my full backing to take any enforcement action it deems necessary.”
In response to the matter, X said it takes “action” against such content. This includes child sexual abuse material. As for what that action includes? X said it removes content, permanently suspends accounts, and works with local government and law enforcement as necessary.
“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” added the platform.
The first version of Grok debuted on X in 2023. It is a free AI assistant (although there are some paid-for premium features), which responds to prompts from X users. Typically, Grok gives reactions or provides more context on posts. It can also edit images uploaded by X users.
TELL US – IS NEWS THAT ELON MUSK IS IN TROUBLE OVER GROK A SURPRISE? AND, WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE CHANGE ON X?
