<\/p>\n
California’s top prosecutor has launched an investigation into the spread of sexualised AI deepfakes generated by Elon Musk’s AI model Grok.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement announcing the probe: “The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking.”<\/p>\n
xAI, which develops Grok, has previously said “anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”. <\/p>\n
California’s inquiry comes as British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warns of possible action against X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In Wednesday’s statement, Bonta said: “This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet.”<\/p>\n
The Democratic prosecutor urged xAI to take immediate action.<\/p>\n
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted to X on Wednesday that xAI’s decision to “create and host a breeding ground for predators… is vile”.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted xAI for comment. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Musk posted to X that he is “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.”<\/p>\n
“Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images,” Musk wrote. “It does so only according to user requests.”<\/p>\n
The tech billionaire, a Republican mega-donor, has also said that critics of X were politically motivated and using the Grok controversy as an “excuse for censorship”.<\/p>\n
In November, Wired magazine reported that tools from other AI companies like OpenAI and Google have also been used to digitally undress people.<\/p>\n
Last week, three US Democratic senators asked Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores.<\/p>\n
Within hours of the request, X restricted its image generation tool so that it would only be available to paying subscribers.<\/p>\n
X and Grok remain available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It comes amid a debate over whether US tech companies are shielded from responsibility for what users post on AI platforms.<\/p>\n
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides legal immunity to online platforms for user-generated content.<\/p>\n
But Prof James Grimmelmann of Cornell University argues this law “only protects sites from liability for third-party content from users, not content the sites themselves produce”.<\/p>\n
Grimmelmann said xAI was trying to deflect blame for the <\/b>imagery on to users, but expressed doubt this argument would hold up in court.<\/p>\n
“This isn’t a case where users are making the images themselves and then sharing them on X,” he said. <\/p>\n
In this case “xAI itself is making the images. That’s outside of what Section 230 applies to”, he added.<\/p>\n
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has argued that Section 230, which he co-authored, does not apply to AI-generated images. He said companies should be held fully responsible for such content.<\/p>\n
“I’m glad to see states like California step up to investigate Elon Musk’s horrific child sexual abuse material generator,” Wyden told the BBC on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Wyden is one of the three Democratic senators who asked Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores.<\/p>\n
The announcement of the probe in California comes as the UK is preparing legislation that would make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images.<\/p>\n
The UK watchdog Ofcom has also launched an investigation into Grok.<\/p>\n
If it determines the platform has broken the law, it can issue fines of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or \u00a318m, whichever is greater.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer told Labour MPs that Musk’s social media platform X could lose the “right to self regulate” adding that “if X cannot control Grok, we will.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#California #investigates #Grok #deepfakes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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