By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot faces an investigation by the European Commission into whether it disseminates illegal content such as manipulated sexualised images in the EU.
The Commission, which acts as the European Union's executive, said on Monday that its investigation will examine whether X properly assessed and mitigated risks related to Grok's functionalities in the 27-country bloc.
"Non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent,
unacceptable form of degradation," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.
X referred to a statement issued on January 14 in which it said xAI had restricted image editing for Grok AI users and blocked users, based on their location, from generating images of people in revealing clothing in "jurisdictions where it's illegal". It did not identify the countries.
The move by the Commission under the Digital Services Act, which requires Big Tech to do more to tackle illegal and harmful online content, came after xAI's Grok produced sexualised images of women and minors that alarmed global regulators.
Companies risk fines as much as 6% of their global annual turnover for DSA breaches.
While the changes made by xAI were welcomed, they do not resolve all the issues and systemic risks and the Commission had grounds to believe X did not carry out an ad hoc assessment when it rolled out Grok's functionalities in Europe, a senior official for the executive told reporters on Monday.
The investigation risks antagonising the administration of President Donald Trump as an EU crackdown on Big Tech has triggered criticism and even the threat of U.S. tariffs.
"With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens - including those of women and children - as collateral damage of its service," Virkkunen said.
The Commission said earlier this month that the AI-generated images of undressed women and children being shared on X were unlawful and appalling, joining condemnation across the world.
EU regulators also extended an investigation into X opened in December 2023 to establish whether it has properly assessed and mitigated all systemic risks related to its so-called recommender systems, including the impact of its recently announced switch to a Grok-based system.
They said X may face interim measures in the absence of meaningful adjustments to its service. X was hit with a 150 million euro fine in December for breaching its transparency obligations under the DSA.
Separately, Britain's media regulator Ofcom launched its own separate investigation earlier this month into whether X has complied with its duties under the UK's Online Safety Act.
(Additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by William James and Alexander Smith)
