Appears to be like like extra bother is brewing for Elon Musk’s X, as two extra nations launch investigations into the capability for its Grok synthetic intelligence chatbot to generate non-consensual nude and sexualized photos, that are then being shared publicly within the app.
On Tuesday, the Irish Knowledge Safety Fee introduced an open inquiry, based on a authorities launch, whereas Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted on X that the nation’s Council of Ministers will start its personal examinations of X and xAI. Each nations stated their respective investigations have been over the technology and amplification of sexualized content material.
Final month, Grok got here below hearth after a new pattern emerged on X the place customers would ask Grok to “put her in a bikini,” or typically make extra salacious requests, beneath a picture posted in-stream. These requests prompted the AI bot to generate sexualized photos of the topic. This prolonged to all types of photos of individuals within the app, together with kids. Grok, at one stage, was producing round 6,700 photos each hour that may be categorized as “sexually suggestive of nudifying,” based on a report from Bloomberg.
X did finally prohibit this feature by altering Grok’s supply code , however not earlier than Musk lashed out at critics, primarily claiming that X was being focused by regulators for enforcement, despie many different apps facilitating the identical.
Which was a weird argument, and a wierd stance to take, as a result of it was primarily arguing for customers to keep up the capability to generate non-consensual nudes within the app.
Nevertheless, X did transfer to restrict the perform. Nonetheless, the truth that it was ever potential, and that X enabled this at such scale, raised widespread issues, and has prompted a variety of investigations into X, which might result in fines and restrictions for the app.
There have already been 4 investigations launched this yr:
And now Eire and Spain have added their very own separate investigations. So, there are a variety of unbiased examinations happening, which is able to undoubtedly lead to fines and penalties for X throughout the close to future.
The query then is simply how vital these penalties may be, after which, how Musk will reply.
As some have famous, X’s AI instruments have really, not less than in some methods, been designed with in-built “spicy mode” options and NSFW choices, which align with this type of engagement.
Clearly, that is one thing X sees enterprise advantages in, but, at X’s scale, and with the platform’s affect and attain, that might open up a variety of issues and challenges.
Additionally, Musk doesn’t like regulation or restrictions of his companies. He has spent years rallying towards all types of regulatory approaches, in all of his firms, and the final time X was fined, for breaches of the EU DSA, Musk declared all-out battle on the EU Fee, evaluating it to the Nazi regime, and calling on the Trump Administration to push for the abolishment of your entire EU framework.
Which is an excessive response, but Musk’s ties to the Trump group do give him some sway. Each U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported Musk’s criticisms, with Rubio posting on X that the penalty handed down was “an assault on all American tech platforms and the American individuals by international governments.”
There’s a threat of a fair greater diplomatic stand-off in future, when penalties are inevitably handed down for this newest concern.
That, after all, shouldn’t cease regulators from going after X, however it can doubtless result in one other worldwide incident sparked by social media.
Which is more and more changing into the norm as of late, with social platforms together with TikTok taking part in a key function in international relations.
Anticipate this to be the subsequent main battleground, as X faces off with regulators in lots of areas, and seeks to politicize this as censorship.
