EU investigates Elon Musk's X over Grok AI sexual deepfakes The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its AI tool Grok was used to create sexualised images of real people. It follows a similar announcement in January from the UK watchdog Ofcom. Regina Doherty, a member of the European parliament representing Ireland, said the Commission would assess whether manipulated sexually explicit images have been shown to users in the EU. A previous statement from X's Safety account said the social media platform had stopped Grok from digitally altering pictures of people to remove their clothing in jurisdictions where such content is illegal. But campaigners and victims said the ability to generate sexually explicit pictures using the tool should have never happened in the first place, and Ofcom said its investigation would remain ongoing.

Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first two countries in the world to announce blocks on the Grok AI. Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first two countries in the world to announce blocks on the Grok AI. D ays after Malaysia made global headlines by announcing it would temporarily ban Grok over its ability to generate "grossly offensive and nonconsensual manipulated images", the generative AI tool was conversing breezily with accounts registered in the country. That DNS block in Malaysia is pretty lightweight - easy to bypass with a VPN or DNS tweak," Grok's account on X said in response to a question from a user. Grok's ability to allow users to create sexually explicit images, including images of children, has created a global outcry over recent weeks, with regulators and politicians around the world launching investigations. Indonesia and Malaysia became the first two countries to announce blocks on the technology, with Malaysia's regulatory body saying last Sunday it had "directed a temporary restriction" on access to Grok, effective as of 11 January 2026. Officials in the Philippines have said they too plan to ban the technology. Blocking access to Grok is not straightforward, however. The technology not only exists across multiple platforms, including a standalone app and website, but is also integrated across X, which, along with Grok, is owned by Elon Musk's xAI. The protest group Everyone Hates Elon advertises a boycott of X in London. Over the past week, X users, and even Grok itself, have advised people on how to bypass restrictions. This includes using a VPN - many of which are available for free - or changing domain name system (DNS), the protocol on the internet that turns address names into IP addresses that load websites. When the Guardian tried to use Grok in Indonesia, its website was working even without a VPN, though the Grok app did not work. Grok was also still responding to Indonesian accounts on X, where it functions as an integrated chatbot. X has not been subject to a ban. Even if governments could completely restrict Grok, though, this is not a real solution, said Nana Nwachukwu, an AI governance expert and PhD researcher at Trinity College Dublin. "Blocking Grok is like slapping a Band-Aid on a weeping wound that you haven't cleaned," she said. "You block Grok, and then you go around shouting you've done something.

Ofcom has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its AI tool Grok is being used to create sexualised images. In a statement, the UK watchdog said there had been deeply concerning reports of the chatbot being used to create and share undressed images of people, as well as sexualised images of children. If found to have broken the law, Ofcom can potentially issue X with a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater. The BBC has approached X for comment. Elon Musk previously said the UK government wanted any excuse for censorship in response to a post questioning why other AI platforms were not being looked at.

The CyberGuy, Kurt Knutsson, gives his take on Elon Musk's claims that Grok 3 outperforms every AI rival on'Fox & Friends.' Chatting with Grok while cruising in your Tesla is now a reality. The conversational artificial intelligence is being included in newer models, according to Elon Musk. Having Grok around will hopefully make your drive more engaging. It will be like having a buddy with you along for the ride. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox.

A chatbot developed by Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence startup xAI appeared to be suffering from a glitch Wednesday when it repeatedly brought up white genocide in South Africa in response to user queries about unrelated topics on X. Grok, which competes with other chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, is directly integrated into the social media platform that Musk also owns. Numerous examples of the phenomenon could be found by searching the official Grok profile for posts containing the term "boer," a word used to refer to people from South Africa of "Dutch, German, or Huguenot descent." It is sometimes used by Black South Africans as a pejorative against white Afrikaners, or people associated with the apartheid regime. In response to topics ranging from streaming platform HBO Max's name change to Medicaid cuts proposed by US lawmakers, the chatbot often seemed to initially stay on topic before veering back to white genocide in South Africa, completely unprompted. When asked to confirm the salary of Toronto Blue Jays player Max Scherzer, for example, the generative artificial intelligence chatbot launched into an explanation of white genocide and a controversial South African anti-apartheid song.

Tech expert Kurt Knutsson examines the convergence of cutting-edge technology and traditional culture. Elon Musk debuted xAI last year. AI DREAMS: Billionaire Elon Musk on Monday said his startup xAI's latest iteration of the Grok chatbot could help college basketball fans pick a perfect bracket once March Madness begins. BUSTIN' A MOVE: In a stunning display of technological prowess and cultural fusion, Unitree's H1 humanoid robots recently stole the show at China's Spring Festival Gala, performing alongside human dancers in a mesmerizing rendition of the traditional Yangge folk dance. This groundbreaking performance marks a significant milestone in the world of robotics and entertainment.

In 2015, Elon Musk and Sam Altman cofounded OpenAI based on a seemingly ethical ethos: to develop AI technology that benefits humanity, rather than systems controlled by big money corporations. Fast forward a decade that included a spectacular falling out between Musk and Altman, things look very different. Amid legal battles with his friend and former business partner, Musk's latest company, xAI, has launched its own powerful competitor, Grok AI. Described as "an AI search assistant with a twist of humor and a dash of rebellion," Grok is designed to have fewer guardrails than its major competitors. Unsurprisingly, Grok is prone to hallucinations and bias, with the AI assistant blamed for spreading misinformation about the 2024 election.

Elon Musk's X platform is under pressure from data regulators after it emerged that users are consenting to their posts being used to build artificial intelligence systems via a default setting on the app. The UK and Irish data watchdogs said they have contacted X over the apparent attempt to gain user consent for data harvesting without them knowing about it. An X user highlighted the issue on Friday, pointing to a setting on the app that activated by default and permitted the account holder's posts to be used for training Grok, an AI chatbot built by Musk's xAI business. Under UK GDPR, which is based on the EU data regulation of the same name, companies are not allowed to use "pre-ticked boxes" or "any other method of default consent". The setting, which comes with an already ticked box, states that you "allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning".

Elon Musk, the divisive CEO of Tesla and more recently the owner of Twitter (now known as X), is a fierce critic of the AI industry--but now also a deeply invested participant in that very same industry. X's Grok generative AI product is being integrated into the web and mobile versions of the social network, and training itself on billions of tweets thanks to an automatic opt-in for all users. Well, it seems like a constantly refreshed pool of conversations from some of the web's most active users was simply too much for company xAI to resist, which now automatically scans your "posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and [Grok search] results." At the moment, X is using Grok as a chatbot for premium users and to replace human-made summaries of late-breaking news stories, with predictable issues resulting. The flippant and "rebellious" tone of the Grok model's responses has been criticized by initial users, and its reliance on constantly updated data from X seems to make it particularly susceptible to deliberate misinformation campaigns.