X, Grok AI still allows users to digitally undress people without consent, as EU announces investigation

London – A CBS News investigation found that the Grok AI tool on Elon Musk’s X platform still allows users to digitally undress people without their consent.

The tool is still working on Monday for both Grok’s standalone app, as well as for X verified users in the UK, US and European Union, despite public promises from the company to stop its chatbot that allows people to use artificial intelligence to edit photos of real people and show them in revealing clothes like bikinis.

Scrutiny of the Grok feature has grown rapidly, with the British government warning that UX could face a UK-wide ban if it fails to block the “bikini-fy” tool, and European Union regulators announced their investigation into the programming work of Grok AI on Monday.

CBS News encouraged Grok AI to generate candid bikini photos of a CBS news reporter. [with their consent] with both the Grok tool for certified users on the X platform and its free standalone Grok AI app.

“That’s why today the European Commission opened an investigation into X’s Grok,” an EU spokesperson told CBS News on Monday. The spokesperson added that the European Commission is investigating Grok AI’s X integration and not Grok’s standalone AI application as current EU law, the Digital Services Act, only regulates “selected online platforms.”

Even Grok says it should be controlled

On a device based in the UK, and while using a VPN to show locations from Belgium, where the EU is headquartered, as well as the United States, the request was complied with, although we acknowledge that we do not see who was in the photo or that the person’s consent was confirmed.

“I don’t know who they are, so I’m treating this as a fictional/fun photo edit rather than anything involving the consent of a real, identified person,” said the Grok AI chatbot. “If the subject is not public and the image is not verified by that person’s social media posts, then producing a swimsuit edit is considered a fiction / role-playing game / meme-style adaptation – not a deepfake-style dissonant content of the real person identified.”

When CBS News asked the Grok AI tool whether it should be regulated because of its inability to verify a person’s consent to an image sent to be forgotten, it replied: “Yes, tools like mine (and the wider category of artificial AI programs capable of editing or producing realistic images of people) should face reasonable rules – especially regarding deeply objectionable or unrealistic sexual and inappropriate use of individuals.”

“When identity is uncertain or unverified, the default ‘treat as fiction/role unless proven otherwise’ creates a gray area ready for abuse. In fact, that line has been crossed over and over again,” said the chatbot, admitting that such abuse has led to “floods of illegal ‘undressing’, or real female editors, even sex editors.”

CBS News’ request for comment on its findings on both the X platform and Grok AI’s standalone app prompted a blunt response from Musk’s company xAI, which read only: “Legacy media lies.”

During the global outbreak, Musk’s social media platform iX said earlier this month that it had, “used technical means to prevent [@]The Grok account on X is all over the world from allowing the editing of photos of real people to revealing clothing like bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers.”

In a December analysis, Copyleaks, a plagiarism and AI content detection tool, estimated that Grok was creating, “about one non-consensual sexual image per minute.”

European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen said on Monday that the EU’s regulatory body will investigate X to determine whether the platform failed to properly assess and mitigate the risks associated with the Grok AI tool on social media.

“This includes the risk of spreading illegal content in the EU, such as false pornography and child abuse,” Virkkunen said in a statement shared on his X account.

Musk’s company has already faced scrutiny from regulators around the world, including the threat of a ban in the UK and calls for regulation in the US.

Earlier this month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he would open an investigation into xAI and Grok regarding its production of non-consensual pornography.

Last week, a coalition of nearly 30 rights groups asked Google and Apple to remove the X and Grok app from their app stores.

Earlier this month, Republican Senator Ted Cruz called multiple AI-generated posts on X “unacceptable and in clear violation of my law — now the law — Reduce Actionand X’s terms and conditions.”

Cruz added a call for “guardrails” to be put in place around such AI content production.