Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it has opened a formal investigation into X's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok over the processing of personal data and its potential to produce harmful sexualised images and video, including of children.
The Elon Musk company holds its European Union operations in Ireland, and it can levy fines of up to 4 percent of a company's global revenue under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Grok came under fire last year after it built a feature called “Spicy Mode”, which allowed users to prompt the chatbot into ‘undressing” images of women and posing them in bikinis, creating AI-generated deepfakes with no consent or safeguards.
Media analyses also found that Grok often complied when users prompted it to generate sexually suggestive images of minors, including one of a 14-year-old actress, raising alarm bells with global regulators.
The European Commission launched formal investigations into Grok in January. Meanwhile, other countries, including the United Kingdom and France, have threatened legal action or opened investigations into Grok.
X responded by announcing curbs to stop Grok from producing such images; however, reports indicate the images are still being produced.
The DPC has been engaging with XIUC (X Internet Unlimited Company) since media reports first emerged a number of weeks ago concerning the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualised images of real people, including children", said Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle.
"As the Lead Supervisory Authority for XIUC across the EU/EEA, the DPC has commenced a large-scale inquiry, " Doyle said, adding that this would examine XIUC's compliance with some of its "fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand".
