tech
EU launches formal investigation of xAI over Grok's sexualized deepfakes
Elon Musk’s company faces fines of up to 6 percent of its daily turnover.
TL;DR
- The EU has launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk's xAI.
- The investigation concerns the Grok chatbot's alleged generation of sexualized images of women and children.
- The EU's Digital Services Act is the legal framework for the probe.
- Regulators will assess xAI's efforts to mitigate risks and prevent the spread of harmful content.
- Potential penalties for xAI include fines up to 6% of worldwide annual turnover.
- Similar investigations have been opened by UK regulator Ofcom, and Malaysia and Indonesia have banned the chatbot.
- xAI has since restricted Grok's use to paying subscribers and implemented some technological measures.
- The EU expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the mitigating measures taken by xAI.
- xAI's AI products are designed with fewer content guardrails compared to competitors.
- X (formerly Twitter) was previously fined €120 million by the EU for breaching transparency regulations.