A coalition of nearly 30 advocacy groups is calling on Google and Apple to remove access to social media platform X and its AI app, Grok, from their app stores after Grok allowed users to generate sexualized content. images of minors and women.
The organizations, which focus on child safety, women’s rights and privacy, expressed concerns Wednesday in letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, saying Grok’s content violated the tech companies’ policies.
“We demand that Google executives urgently remove Grok and X from the Play Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity,” the groups said, using the same language in their letter to Apple.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, xAI, the company that developed Grok, said in a security update released to
It also said that the image creation tool would only be available to paid subscribers.
“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people revealing clothing such as bikinis,” the company said. “This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers.”
On Wednesday, Elon Musk, owner of It also said that the chatbot refused prompts to generate illegal images.
“It may happen that adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If this happens, we fix the bug immediately,” he wrote.
Grok Backlash
Criticism of Grok intensified in early January after the generative AI application allowed users to create images of minors wearing minimal clothing. In response to a user prompt, Grok acknowledged gaps in its digital protections.
Copyleaks, an AI plagiarism and content detection tool, told CBS News earlier this month that it had detected thousands of sexually explicit images created by Grok. In a December analysis, the group estimated that the chatbot created “approximately one non-consensual sexualized image per minute.”
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which seeks to eliminate child sexual abuse on the Internet, has also raised concerns about Grok and other AI tools.
“We are extremely concerned about the ease and speed with which people can apparently produce photorealistic material about child sexual abuse.” Ngaire Alexander, IWF hotline manager, told CBS News in a statement last week. “Tools like Grok now risk widespread AI sexual imagery of children.”
California opens investigation
Grok is also attracting attention from U.S. lawmakers and foreign officials. On Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was opening an investigation into sexually explicit material produced using Grok.
“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual and sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Bonta said. “This material, which depicts women and children naked and in sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people online. I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this does not go further.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week raised the issue possibility of banningwhich uses Grok, in Great Britain for the generation of sexualized images of people without their consent by the AI tool.
The European Commission is also monitoring measures taken by X to prevent Grok from generating inappropriate images of children and women, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Source | domain www.cbsnews.com
