Days after governments around the world began scrutinizing X (formerly Twitter) for allowing its AI platform Guru to produce photos of real people in bikinis without their consent, the platform announced it would stop the chatbot from doing the same.
“We have implemented technical measures to prevent Greek accounts from allowing editing of photos of real people to reveal clothing such as bikinis,” X’s security team said on Wednesday.
It would also prevent the ability to produce nudity in “jurisdictions where it is illegal” in “jurisdictions where it is illegal.”
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The issue stems from an x-trend where multiple users ask Grok to produce bikini photos of other users, including minors. The trend raised safety and privacy concerns for women and minors, with governments in Indonesia and Malaysia banning chatbots altogether. Some other governments have either launched investigations or called for tougher sanctions.
Immediately afterwards, X decided to limit Grok’s image generation to paying customers. It has also vowed to ban accounts and prosecute those involved in creating child sexual exploitation material (CSAM).
The investigation, however, continued. This week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation into the chatbot and said potential victims could file a complaint against Grok’s parent company, Zee. The investigation will also examine the “spicy mode” of the standalone Growk app, which enables users to create images of AI avatars in minimal clothing.
While there is no official response to the AG’s investigation, Elon Musk said that with NSFW enabled, Grok is allowed to create upper-body nudity involving fictional adults, “what might be seen in R-rated movies on Apple TV.” He added that this is “the de facto standard in America.”
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Earlier this week, the US Senate passed a bill allowing victims of undisputed deepfake imagery to sue their creators. President Trump has already signed a bill requiring social media platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of receiving notice.
Meanwhile, The Verge found that Grok was still able to reveal the deep facsimile on Wednesday. Musk, on the other hand, claimed he was “not aware of any nude underage photos produced by Grok. Literally zero.” They accused users of making such requests and noting that “advertising of grok signals” could provide “something unexpected”.
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Jibeen is a tech news writer based in Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of the iGex blog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a wider audience.
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