Elon Musk announces new Grok horrors after child sexual images scandal
Elon Musk’s Grok has already been widely criticised for what it allows users to generate (VINCENT FEURAY/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Elon Musk's Grok has already been widely criticised for what it allows users to generate (VINCENT FEURAY/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Tech billionaire Elon Musk announced X’s chatbot Grok can now generate AI videos up to 10 seconds long by sharing a video using Sydney Sweeney’s likeness.
It is a development that comes just weeks after the platform was widely condemned for allowing Grok to digitally undress people without their consent and generate sexualised images of children at users’ request.
In the video generated by AI graphic designer Alex Patrascu, which promotes xAI’s Grok Imagine, the faux Sydney Sweeney, which actually sounds nothing like the real actress, tells an equally AI-generated co-star: “So let me get this straight. Grok videos are now 10 seconds, and the audio is greatly improved?”
“Yeah, pretty much… Do you like it?” he replies.
AI Sweeney nods, dropping her gaze down the male character’s body.
Musk captioned the post: “Grok video is now 10 seconds and the audio is greatly improved.”
In the replies to Musk’s post, many users were worryingly quick to express their delight that they could now use the tool to generate clips of Sweeney.
“Gooners gonna have a field day with it,” one user, unfortunately accurately, noted.
Musk’s announcement comes just weeks after he, his platform X – formerly known as Twitter – and Grok itself were widely lambasted for allowing users to generate images of real people in sexualised contexts, including children.
Around the start of the year, several users – many of which were women – reported that their photos were being altered by Grok at other users’ request to show them in an undressed manner without their consent.
Grok generated the images after users replied to people’s photographs, such as a selfie, asking it to “put them in a bikini”, whilst others also asked for the women to be covered in a doughnut-style glaze – an attempt to sexualise otherwise innocent images.
There were also cases where Grok altered images of children in a similarly sexualised manner following requests from individual users.
PinkNews independently verified the validity of some of these images.
In response, digital watchdogs around the world – including the UK’s Ofcom, the European Union’s European Comission and bodies in Australia, Germany and France – all launched investigations into the AI tool and what it is able to generate.
Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the Commission described the deepfakes generated by Grok as a “violent, unacceptable form of degradation”, adding the investigation would “determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA [Digital Services Act], or whether it treated rights of European citizens – including those of women and children – as collateral damage of its service”.
Amid the criticism, Musk stated on 3 January anyone who was using Grok to “make illegal content” would “suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”.
X’s official Safety account subsequently shared a statement, which read: “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.
“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” it added, echoing Musk’s own post from a day earlier.
However, this week Musk appeared to poke fun at this criticism and restrictions placed on Grok by sharing an AI generated image taken from a screenshot from the trailer for upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto VI.
Placed side-by-side, the first image was a standard screenshot from the trailer showcasing the game’s NPCs on the beach in Miami-inspired Vice City, beneath it was the same image but with everyone covered in traditional Islamic dress.
“It’s so hard to get the moderation just right,” Musk captioned the post.
