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The European Commission<\/a> has launched an investigation into Elon Musk\u2019s X over the production of sexually explicit images and the spreading of possible child sexual abuse material by the platform\u2019s AI chatbot, Grok.<\/p>\n The formal inquiry, launched on Monday, also extends an investigation into X\u2019s recommender systems, algorithms that help users discover new content.<\/p>\n Grok has sparked international outrage by allowing users to digitally strip women and children and put them into provocative poses. Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images in less than two weeks<\/a>, including 23,000 that appeared to depict children, according to researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate.<\/p>\n The commission said its investigation would \u201cassess whether the company properly assessed and mitigated risks\u201d stemming from Grok\u2019s functionalities in the EU, including risks on the sharing of illegal content such as manipulated sexually explicit images and \u201ccontent that may amount to\u201d child sexual abuse material.<\/p>\n The investigation has been launched under the EU\u2019s Digital Services Act (DSA), a relatively new piece of legislation that is intended to protect internet users from a wide range of harms.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters, an official said the commission had not been convinced by mitigating measures put in place by X to remedy the issue.<\/p>\n After the initial outcry over the manipulated images, the company restricted access to the tool to paid subscribers, but changed tack under pressure from European regulators. It announced earlier this month that it had introduced measures to prevent Grok from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothes.<\/p>\n A commission official said the measures did not take away broader concerns about Grok. The investigation is looking at the systemic risks of the generation of illegal content, including content depicting violence against women and child sexual abuse material. X did not have \u201ceffective mitigating measures \u2026 to reduce the risk on their platform\u201d, they said.<\/p>\n Announcing the investigation, Henna Virkkunen, the commission\u2019s top official for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said: \u201cNon-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation. With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens \u2013 including those of women and children \u2013 as collateral damage of its service.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as the investigation into explicit images, the commission is extending an inquiry launched in December 2023 into X\u2019s so-called recommender systems in view of the company\u2019s announcement to move to a Grok-based model for filtering information and content to users.<\/p>\n