Elon Musk can expect an uphill battle when it comes to regulating his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. But it may be more to do with European legal mores than American regulation.
Social platform X, formerly Twitter, rolled out new Grok functionality just before New Year’s, allowing it to modify the appearance and state of dress of those in any photo uploaded to the service. However, the tool was quickly abused with unsuspecting users finding their uploads transformed into undressed “deepfakes” – AI-generated images of people indistinguishable at a glance from reality – by those using Grok.
Within just a few days, thousands of nonconsensual images of real women and girls were created in provocative states of undress, according to an analysis by Paris nonprofit AI Forensics.
Why We Wrote This
AI chatbot Grok was used to make provocative “deepfake” images of women and children, angering many. Though the social platform X has now suspended that capacity, the episode has highlighted how differently Europe and the U.S. view Big Tech and its regulation.
The Grok output has spurred a global outcry. Several nations warned that the images might violate online regulatory or criminal laws and threatened investigations. Indonesia and Malaysia banned access to Grok outright this past weekend, while on Wednesday, California announced an investigation into Grok.
But some of the earliest, and loudest cries, against Mr. Musk’s chatbot have come from Europe, particularly the United Kingdom. Britain’s media regulator Ofcom announced Monday that it was launching a probe into Grok’s production, and the British government said it would enforce a law that criminalizes the creation of nonconsensual deepfakes.
And while Mr. Musk announced late Wednesday that Grok would prevent users from modifying images in such ways going forward, apparently bowing to the international pressure, the U.K. and Europe say they’re not backing down.
Ofcom announced Thursday that it will continue its probe into Grok. And while the European Union has not launched a formal investigation into the platform, the European Commission has said that it will not hesitate to use Europe’s Digital Services Act to protect its citizens.
While observers say the battle over deepfakes is far from over, the controversy has pushed Europe headfirst into the simmering debate about AI ethics. It also highlights the different priorities that Europe and the U.S. hold when it comes to Big Tech, as the two balance values vs. profits.
Regulations and risk
Mr. Musk is known, observers say, for pushing the lines of what is considered appropriate: to act first and face consequences later. That approach, shared by many in Silicon Valley and encouraged by relatively lax legal oversight, has helped push the U.S. to the forefront of AI and innovation, with its tech industry contributing an estimated $2 trillion to the country’s GDP.
“Deregulation is the word of the day in the U.S.,” says Julia Tréhu, a technology fellow at the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and it is a central pillar of the AI Action Plan, an initiative that the Trump administration released in July and has framed as a way to “accelerate American leadership.”
That stance has, however, come up against Europe’s priorities, which place more weight on sovereignty and protecting consumer rights. Europe’s Digital Services Act was designed in part to curb illegal online activity, and Europe has been a leader in combatting cyberharassment. The U.K. also has strong legislation to protect women and children.
“Europe is not less innovative,” says José Ignacio Torreblanca, a senior adviser and distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “But it is much more averse to risk.”
Whether risk is a concern to Mr. Musk is unclear. Following early complaints that Grok was creating provocative images after being given user prompts, he posted an AI-generated photo of himself in a bikini on New Year’s Eve. “Perfect,” he wrote, alongside the image.
And while European authorities have been willing to punish X – in December, the European Commission slapped it with a fine of €120 million for violating transparency laws – the effectiveness of such measures is uncertain. With Mr. Musk’s wealth behind the social platform, some say fines are no longer a deterrent. And national bans like those imposed by Indonesia and Malaysia are geolocated, making them susceptible to circumvention by users employing virtual private networks.
Moreover, the restrictions on Grok’s deepfake production only apply to public posts within X made by the chatbot. Grok still has full functionality within its own, separate app and its own tab within X, meaning users can still easily make deepfakes.
“If a platform doesn’t want to change its methodology,” says Nana Mgbechikwere Nwachukwu, an AI ethics and governance consultant and researcher at Trinity College Dublin, “bans do not work.”
She says individual countries need to take a two-pronged approach to combat Grok’s deepfakes – to pursue the platform as well as the user. That means governments need to liaise with local law enforcement to prosecute users who publish illegal content.
“It depends on how far governments want to take this. They are the regulators,” says Ms. Mgbechikwere Nwachukwu. “Europe hasn’t gotten to the win yet.”
