Statement re EU Commission investigation into X and Grok AI

The formal investigation by the EU Commission into Grok and X is welcome but more urgency and action is needed, according to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

The organisation's Chief Executive Rachel Morrogh commented:

“The formal investigation by the EU Commission into Grok and X is welcome but more urgency and action is needed to stop the harm this technology continues to generate. Consequential actions against X and Grok must not be delayed until the outcome of the EU investigation – there are measures that are available to legislators today and these must be activated.

“It has been plain for the last number of weeks that X, and by extension Grok, has been unrepentant, antagonistic and menacing in its response to the public and political backlash against the sexual violence it is facilitating against women and girls. Instead of an apology, media enquiries to xAI, the company behind Grok, were met with ‘legacy media lies’ a few weeks ago. This was gaslighting on a global scale given the number of people who have either used the technology themselves, seen the images created or have been told by reputable sources about it.

There are very few people who need to be convinced that this technology is a harm-creator that targets women and girls. Despite the fig-leaf actions Grok/X has taken to reluctantly limit access to its technology, it continues to promote and amplify sexual violence against women and girls behind VPNs and more openly in countries where access has not been geo-blocked.

“The Commission itself has said that it has not been convinced by the mitigation measures put in place by X to remediate the damage to date. So why is Grok not being shut down while the Commission’s investigation takes place? While due process is necessary, commercial interests must not be allowed to eclipse the trauma and pain caused already by this technology. It is our view that any technology that creates, amplifies or facilitates any act of sexual violence should be shut down, including while investigations are ongoing. This is the only available option in a society that has zero-tolerance for sexual violence.

“We note that the Commission has said that interim measures are available if X doesn’t make meaningful adjustments to its service. These include ordering X to change its algorithms as well as shutting down the chatbot. We understand that the threshold for these measures is extremely high but this is exactly the category of harm this technology should fall into. The only way to protect future victims is to ban nudification tools and apps.”

/ENDS.