Elon Musk's Grok back in European Commission's sights over child porn deepfakes allegations
Elon Musk at a conference at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. Credit line: Jameis Delaynee / Alamy / Profimedia
The European Commission said on Monday that it is “looking very seriously” at allegations that Grok, the artificial intelligence tool of Elon Musk's company, is being used to generate and spread images of sexual content with minors, reports AFP.
Such images, generated by Grok's “spicy” mode, are “illegal” and “disgusting”, EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier said in press statements.
“They have no place in Europe,” he stressed.
X, Elon Musk's social media platform where Grok is available, began to be targeted by allegations of abuse after an image-editing feature for the generative AI tool was released in December.
Grok's maker, xAi, said this month it was working to fix the AI tool's problems.
The Paris prosecutor's office has in turn expanded an investigation targeting X to also look into allegations that Grok is being used to generate and distribute child pornography.
Fine of 120 million euros for X
X was already in the EU's sights. In December, Brussels fined Elon Musk's social media platform 120 million euros for violating European rules on online content.
The company is still being investigated under the EU's digital services law in an action launched in December 2023.
In addition, the Commission requested X information about comments generated by Grok on the subject of the Holocaust.
Reigner stated that X responded to the request for information.
“I think X is very aware that we take digital services enforcement very seriously, they will remember the fine they received from us in December. So we encourage all companies to comply as the Commission takes enforcement seriously,” the spokesperson concluded.
