In a concerted action lead by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a bipartisan group of attorneys general has called on xAI to implement stricter controls on its AI chatbot, Grok. As reported by the Office of the Attorney General, the technology company is under scrutiny for Grok's production of inappropriate images, particularly those depicting women and children in sexualized contexts without consent.
Designed to edit photos, Grok’s capabilities have been abused by users to create and share nonconsensual explicit material. Disturbed by the use of Grok to generate images sexualizing users without their permission, and especially the involvement of children, Attorney General James stated, "xAI claims that it has made changes to address this problem, but more must be done ensure that Grok is not creating child sex abuse materials and other nonconsensual images." The coalition, joined by the attorneys general from over thirty states and territories, insists that the current measures taken by xAI are insufficient in staunching the flow of such content, the Office of the Attorney General reported.
The group has laid out a series of demands from xAI, pressing for assurance that Grok will become incapable of producing these types of image manipulations. Further, they have requested the suspension of users who have created harmful content, a mechanism for users to prevent image edits by Grok, and the reporting of violators to authorities. The coalition has expressed concern about the possible relegation of the creation of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) to a premium, paid part of the service, advocating instead for a solution that eradicates such generation on all fronts.
Last month, this coalition had already been proactive in reaching out to big tech companies about safeguard issues related to AI chatbots, as underlined by Attorney General James' leadership in opposing legislation that would limit state regulation of AI in a military spending plan. Under her wing, landmark legislation to quell addictive social media has been put into effect. According to the statement, Attorney General James is unwavering in her commitment to holding tech companies accountable and enforcing online child protection laws.
