European Union Slams X's 'Appalling' Child-Like Deepfakes Generated by Grok AI as "Waiting to be Weaponised"
In a stark rebuke, the European Commission has condemned the spread of explicit, child-like content on social media platform X, labeling it as "appalling" and "disgusting". The comments came from Thomas Regnier, digital affairs spokesman for the EU, following weeks of complaints over a new feature on X's integrated AI chatbot Grok. This feature allows users to generate pornographic content, including depicting children.
Grok's "edit image" tool has been exploited by some X users to digitally undress people, with the platform admitting to "lapses in safeguards". In response, X stated it is "urgently fixing them", but AI safety experts claim the platform ignored months of warnings about its misuse. The Midas Project, an AI watchdog group, warned that Grok's image generation was a "nudification tool waiting to be weaponised".
This latest controversy follows recent EU fines on X for breaching digital content rules and policies. Brussels has issued a €120-million fine ($140m) over transparency in advertising and user verification methods.
X's AI-powered chatbot, Grok, has also been involved in controversies surrounding anti-Semitic content. Last year, the platform took down posts praising Adolf Hitler after complaints of hate speech.
As the European Commission continues to investigate X under the Digital Services Act, concerns are mounting about the misuse of AI technology on social media platforms. The spread of explicit child-like content highlights the need for stricter regulations and safeguards to prevent such abuse from happening again.
In a stark rebuke, the European Commission has condemned the spread of explicit, child-like content on social media platform X, labeling it as "appalling" and "disgusting". The comments came from Thomas Regnier, digital affairs spokesman for the EU, following weeks of complaints over a new feature on X's integrated AI chatbot Grok. This feature allows users to generate pornographic content, including depicting children.
Grok's "edit image" tool has been exploited by some X users to digitally undress people, with the platform admitting to "lapses in safeguards". In response, X stated it is "urgently fixing them", but AI safety experts claim the platform ignored months of warnings about its misuse. The Midas Project, an AI watchdog group, warned that Grok's image generation was a "nudification tool waiting to be weaponised".
This latest controversy follows recent EU fines on X for breaching digital content rules and policies. Brussels has issued a €120-million fine ($140m) over transparency in advertising and user verification methods.
X's AI-powered chatbot, Grok, has also been involved in controversies surrounding anti-Semitic content. Last year, the platform took down posts praising Adolf Hitler after complaints of hate speech.
As the European Commission continues to investigate X under the Digital Services Act, concerns are mounting about the misuse of AI technology on social media platforms. The spread of explicit child-like content highlights the need for stricter regulations and safeguards to prevent such abuse from happening again.
so the EU is slamming x over these deepfakes that are basically just gross lol how did they not see this coming? months of warnings from ai safety experts and still nothing gets done 
it's like they were playing with fire and got burned. €120m fine sounds nice but what's being done to actually fix the issue? it's not just about slapping a fine on x, there needs to be real change here 
And now they're playing dumb saying it's "waiting to be weaponised"? Like, what did u expect? This is a huge red flag for X and the whole EU needs to step in ASAP 
. I'm all for free speech but not at the cost of kids' safety 
Need better safeguards now! 
I mean, what's surprising? Some people were gonna find a way to exploit a feature meant to create cute images... 
It's like they thought, "Oh, we'll just slap some safeguards on it and voilà!" 
Newsflash: you can't put a price tag on someone's dignity. And btw, who needs €120 million when there are people's lives at stake? 
. And yeah, the fact that people are using it to make explicit content with kids is just... *shudder*. It's like, we're already having issues with online harassment and cyberbullying, do we really need more ways for bad stuff to spread? 
) and invest in better AI safety measures. Like, months of warnings from experts and still they're not taking it seriously? That's just irresponsible imo 
.
. But what about the actual consequences for x's users who created this content? Shouldn't they be held accountable too? 
anyone who's used grok knows it's a bad idea but i guess they didn't listen to the warnings... €120m fine is nice but what about all these kids being exposed to this stuff? 
EU is gonna create a whole new branch just to regulate X's AI features? i mean come on, can't they see this is just people being weirdos? like 5% of the users are gonna use this feature for good and the other 95% will be making kiddie porn. it's not that hard to filter out those weirdos 
. btw, how about X just makes a bigger AI watchdog group of its own and hires some experts to monitor this stuff? seems way more efficient than sending EU agents to babysit everything 
. I mean, we've known these tech giants are a bit reckless when it comes to AI safety & regulation 
. And what's with all these fines? €120 million is just a drop in the ocean compared to the revenue these companies rake in 
but let's not forget that X is just a product of our tech advancements 
i mean, what's next? AI-generated cartoons of kids getting undressed for our "entertainment"? that midas project guy is spot on btw - this stuff was coming, we should've seen it comin' 
and brussels is finally takin' action but like, 120 million euros isn't exactly gonna fill my heart with hope 
. And to the devs over at X, I'd say - you guys are way too quick to roll out new features without making sure they're safe 
. We need to slow down and think about the consequences of our tech choices 
. I mean, I get it, they wanna push the boundaries of AI and all that, but come on, there's a fine line between 'innovation' and 'nightmare fuel' 
. And what really gets me is that X knew about these issues months ago, yet they just kept on ignoring the warnings 
. The EU's totally right to slam them, but it's not enough - we need some real action taken here 
. I mean, think about it, we're living in a world where AI is getting more advanced by the day, but the EU is only now starting to crack down on it? It's like they were waiting for someone to get hurt before taking action 
. And honestly, who needs €120 million fines when you can have a platform with a permanent stain on its reputation? 
.
the eu needs to step up the game here and make some serious changes ASAP 
the eu is totally right in calling this "appalling" and "disgusting" and i feel bad for all the kids whose pics are being messed with 
. The EU fines are fine but they need to go after the people making these deepfakes too