EU investigates Elon Musk's X over Grok AI sexual deepfakes

Summary

The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its AI tool Grok was used to create sexualised images of real people.It follows a similar announcement in January from the UK watchdog Ofcom.If the site is found to have breached the rules of EU's under the Digital Services Act, the Commission could fine the company up to 6% of its global annual turnover. A previous statement from X's Safety account said the social media platform had stopped Grok from digitally altering pictures of people to remove their clothing in "jurisdictions where such content is illegal".Regina Doherty, a member of the European parliament representing Ireland, said the Commission would assess whether "manipulated sexually explicit images" have been shown to users in the EU.Campaigners and victims said the ability to generate sexually explicit pictures using the tool should have "never happened", and Ofcom said its investigation would remain ongoing.The EU regulator said it may "impose interim measures" if X refuses to implement meaningful adjustments. It said it had also extended its ongoing investigation launched in December 2023 over risks associated with X's recommender systems - the algorithm that recommends specific posts to users.Before the Commission's announcement, Elon Musk posted a picture on X on Monday appearing to make light of the new restrictions in place around Grok. The X owner has previously criticised those scrutinising the app's image-editing function - particularly the UK government - calling it "any excuse for censorship".On Sunday, the Grok account on X claimed more than 5.5 billion images were generated by the tool in just 30 days.Other investigations into the platform's chatbot are underway in Australia, France and Germany. Grok was temporarily banned in Indonesia and Malaysia, although the latter has now lifted the ban.Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the Commission called th...