California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent xAI a cease-and-desist letter that orders the company to immediately halt the creation and distribution of deepfake, nonconsensual, intimate images and child sexual abuse material.
Creating, distributing, publishing or exhibiting child sexual abuse material is considered a crime.
Related: Factbox: Elon Musk’s Grok Faces Global Scrutiny for Sexualized AI Deepfakes
Bonta on Wednesday announced that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup is under investigation by his office after the company’s Grok chatbot was allegedly used to create thousands of sexualized images of women and children without their consent.
“This week, my office formally announced an investigation into the creation and spread of nonconsensual, sexually explicit material produced using Grok, an AI model developed by xAI,” Bonta said in a statement. “The avalanche of reports detailing this material — at times depicting women and children engaged in sexual activity — is shocking and, as my office has determined, potentially illegal.”
The actions above violate California law. The California Department of Justice expects xAI to take immediate action to address these issues and provide confirmation to the department of the steps it’s taking to address these issues within the next five days.
Topics California