Europe’s privacy watchdog has opened a “large-scale” inquiry into Elon Musk’s X over AI-generated non-consensual sexual imagery, in the latest sign of how regulators are scrutinising the social media site’s Grok chatbot.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, said late on Monday that it had opened a probe into the creation and publication of “potentially harmful” sexualised images by Grok that contained or involved the processing of EU user data.
The Grok chatbot is integrated into X’s social media feeds, and developed by Musk’s AI start-up xAI, which last year acquired X. Earlier this month, xAI merged with Musk’s rocket maker SpaceX to create a $1.5 trillion behemoth.
The investigation marks the latest in a number of inquiries by global authorities targeting X after thousands of sexualized deepfakes of women were generated using Grok in early January, prompting a widespread backlash from users, safety experts and politicians.
“The DPC has been engaging with [X] since media reports first emerged a number of weeks ago concerning the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualized images of real people, including children,” Graham Doyle, DPC deputy commissioner, said in a statement on Monday.
He added that the commission “has commenced a large-scale inquiry which will examine [X’s] compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk has taken a hands-off approach to moderating the Grok chatbot, citing free speech. Last summer, xAI made changes to the chatbot after it praised Hitler and made antisemitic posts on X.