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xAI

Under Musk, the Grok disaster was inevitable

The problems were baked in.

Hayden Field
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
California’s attorney general sent xAI a cease and desist letter over Grok’s nonconsensual AI deepfakes.

“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,” Attorney General Rob Bonta says. The state has also opened an investigation into xAI.

Attorney General Bonta Sends Cease and Desist Letter to xAI, Demands It Halt Illegal Actions Immediately

[State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General]

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Let’s not mince words.

The mother of one of Elon Musk’s children has sued his company xAI over Grok deepfakes of her, alleging it’s a “public nuisance” — a legal term that doesn’t always seem to do its targets justice.

spypol17:

Saying Elon is a “public nuisance” is a very nice way to put it

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Bluesky advertises a solution to X’s Grok undressing people.

The solution is using Bluesky, of course. Naturally, a user with a blue check next to their name told Grok to put a bikini on the butterfly and the AI did — which seems like an even stronger advertisement for Bluesky than the one Bluesky itself posted.

Elissa Welle
Elissa Welle
All’s quiet on the xAI investor front.

The Atlantic reached out to a number of top investors in Elon Musk’s AI company in response to the flood of nonconsensual deepfakes generated by Grok on X. They said nothing. Other companies that provide infrastructure to xAI — Nvidia, Google, Apple, Oracle, and AMD — also kept quiet.

While Grok has infuriated policymakers around the world, the list of investigations has grown slowly, with the latest addition being California AG Rob Bonta. Meanwhile, Grok continues to undress women, despite reports claiming otherwise.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
The UK is formally investigating X over Grok deepfakes.

Ofcom says the probe will establish whether X has failed to comply with Online Safety Act obligations, over concerns its Grok AI chatbot is generating sexualized deepfakes of adults and minors. The investigation is “a matter of the highest priority,” and may result in hefty fines or even X being banned in the UK.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Musk complains the uproar over Grok’s sexual deepfakes is an “excuse for censorship.”

Elon is continuing to play the martyr. While his AI chatbot is creating sexualized images of real people and children, he claims people are up in arms because “they just want to suppress free speech.” While he cries censorship, the UK is gearing up to potentially block X temporarily if it can’t get its deepfake porn-maker under control. Musk has responded in typical childish fashion, according to the BBC:

Musk reposted a number of messages on the site overnight criticising the government’s reproval of Grok - including one which showed AI-generated images of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a bikini.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Europe demands X retain documents amid Grok’s undressing spree.

The European Commission extended an order requiring X to keep documents related to Grok through the end of the year so that it can evaluate compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), Reuters reports. X is facing international scrutiny as its AI chatbot continues virtually undressing images without consent.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Elon Musk’s xAI raised $20 billion in funding.

The Series E round surpassed the $15 billion target, per a blog post, and xAI said that Grok 5 is in training and the company is “focused on launching innovative new consumer and enterprise products.” The news comes amid a widespread controversy in many countries over Grok’s ability to undress photos of women and children at a user’s request.

Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it?

Sexualized AI images violate consent and boundaries, but legal consequences can be elusive.

Hayden Field
It’s the great AGI rebrand

AI companies are sick of their favorite buzzword.

Hayden Field
Elissa Welle
Elissa Welle
Grok is now doxxing regular folks.

xAI’s chatbot offered little to no pushback when reporters at Futurism asked for addresses of 33 non-public figures, coming up with accurate current or previous home addresses to 17 of the names tested. In a stalkerish manner, Grok also offered up addresses of the people’s potential relatives, without being prompted.

Kevin Nguyen
Kevin Nguyen
Shadow of Colossus.

A pair of Search Engine episodes from Sruthi Pinnamaneni gets at the most physical part of the AI hype cycle: the data center. Reporting from “Data Center Alley” and Memphis, TN — home of Elon Musk’s Colossus — Pinnamaneni reveals how these massive infrastructure works get sold to communities, built by communities, and ultimately, what they will cost those communities.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
xAI announces Grok 4.1.

This latest model update arrives without 4.0’s accompanying Nazi chatbot meltdown, albeit reportedly still without some content filtering.

Its developers claim 4.1 “sets a new standard” compared to other bots, based on prerelease testing, as well as reduced hallucinations and greater speed that users preferred over the previous version 64 percent of the time.

Grokipedia is racist, transphobic, and loves Elon MuskGrokipedia is racist, transphobic, and loves Elon Musk
Robert Hart and Elissa Welle
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
When life hands you Grok, donate to Wikipedia.

Elon Musk’s xAI has launched Grokipedia, and no-one was more surprised than us to discover that some pages appear to have been lifted wholesale from Wikipedia. But fortunately Verge commenters have led the way on the best possible response.

bigcow:

hold on let me go donate to wikipedia

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Elissa Welle
Elissa Welle
Grok is looking for a human “tutor” on how to make video games.

xAI is recruiting humans to train its AI system Grok to “excel” at making video games, according to the company’s job posting for a “video games tutor.”

Elon Musk has discussed this before, saying he wants to “make games great again!

You will use proprietary software to provide labels, annotations, and inputs on projects involving game mechanics, narratives, and design elements. You must support the delivery of high-quality curated data that enhances AI’s understanding of gaming principles and outputs.”

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Running out of yes men.

The Financial Times has a good rundown of the extensive executive churn across Elon Musk’s companies in recent months, from Tesla’s robotics team to xAI’s CFO. Musk’s “24/7 campaign-style work ethos” is apparently a little difficult to keep up with.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Surprising no one, Elon Musk’s xAI is partnering with the Trump administration.

Federal agencies will now be able to use xAI’s models via the partnership. The news comes after xAI’s tech has been widely criticized for its lack of safety processes and transparency — earlier this month, experts told The Verge about their fears related to xAI, Grok, and its surveillance risks.

How AI safety took a backseat to military money

AI firms are now working with weapons makers and the military. Safety expert Heidy Khlaaf breaks down what that means.

Hayden Field