California Launches Probe Into Elon Musk’s Grok AI Deepfakes
California launches an investigation into Grok’s AI deepfakes, highlighting risks of non-consensual sexual content and tech accountability in the US.
California's top prosecutor has launched an investigation into the spread of sexualized AI deepfakes created by Elon Musk's AI model, Grok.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement announcing the investigation: "The flood of reports in recent weeks about non-consensual, sexually explicit material created by xAI and posted online is alarming."
xAI, which develops Grok, previously stated that "anyone who creates illegal content using or prompting Grok will face the same consequences as if they had uploaded the illegal content themselves."
The California investigation comes as British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has warned of potential action against X.
In Wednesday's statement, Bonta said: "This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people online."
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The Democratic prosecutor urged xAI to take immediate action.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted on X on Wednesday that xAI's "decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators... is disgusting."
On Wednesday, Musk posted on X that he was "unaware of any images of nude minors created by Grok."
"Obviously, Grok doesn't create images on its own," Musk wrote. "It only does so in response to user requests."
The tech billionaire, a Republican mega-donor, has also suggested that X's critics were politically motivated and were using the Grok controversy as a "pretext for censorship." In November, Wired magazine reported that tools from OpenAI and other AI companies like Google have also been used to digitally undress people.
Last week, three US Democratic senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores.
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Within hours of the request, X restricted its image generation tool, making it available only to paying subscribers.
This comes amid a debate over whether US tech companies are shielded from liability for what users post on AI platforms.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act grants online platforms legal immunity for user-generated content. But Cornell University professor James Grimmelmann argues that the law "only protects sites from liability for third-party content created by users, not content that the sites themselves create." Grimmelmann said that xAI was trying to shift the blame for the imagery onto users, but he doubted that this argument would hold up in court.
"This isn't a case where users are creating the images themselves and then sharing them on X," he said.
He added, "In this case, xAI is creating the images itself. That's outside the scope of Section 230."
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Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has argued that Section 230, which he co-authored, does not apply to AI-generated images. He said that companies should be held fully responsible for such content.
"I'm glad to see states like California stepping up to investigate Elon Musk's horrific child sexual abuse material generator," Wyden said on Wednesday. Wyden is one of three Democratic senators who called on Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores.
This investigation in California comes as the UK is preparing to introduce legislation that would make the creation of intimate images without consent illegal.
The UK watchdog Ofcom has also launched an investigation into Grok.
If the platform is found to have broken the law, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its global revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater.
On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer told Labour MPs that Musk's social media platform X "may have forfeited the right to regulate itself," adding that "if X can't control Grok, then we will."
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