Grok's deepfake scandals are putting America's future at risk

By now, you have seen the headlines about Grok creating nonconsensual images of real people and reposting them online for the world to see. You may even have spotted these images in your X feed. Not only is the emergence of this kind of content a problem for the platform, but it’s especially risky when you remember that the fate of the republic rests partly on the shoulders of X and Elon Musk.

The story so far

This is a rapidly developing story, so the details are likely to expand in the coming weeks. So far, this is what we know.

Last week, a barrage of X users were found using Grok to digitally remove the clothing of photos containing real women, often putting them in bikinis or other skimpy outfits. While this is bad enough on its own, some users even targeted minors — including one of the prominent actors in "Stranger Things" — to swap outfits for something inappropriate, and Grok complied.

We have to address how Grok’s behavior could impact X on the world stage.

After plenty of blowback on the web, Elon Musk issued a firm statement, warning, “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.” The X Safety account later doubled down with the same message, explaining that the platform takes action against CSAM content on X by removing the images, suspending accounts, and even working with local law enforcement as necessary.

That wasn’t enough, however. Although Musk and company scrubbed the social network of the illegal imagery depicting minors, users continued to undress photos of real adult women without discretion. As a result of further inaction, U.S. Democrats asked Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores (though that hasn’t happened yet), the U.K. instated a law that makes it illegal to create nonconsensual intimate images, and Malaysia and Indonesia blocked Grok altogether.

This ultimately prompted Musk to remove Grok’s image creation and editing tool from public access, instead restricting it to paid users, where any illicit activity can be attached directly to users’ accounts and identities.

A self-imposed problem of reckless proportions

The problem of Grok creating nonconsensual images is bad enough on its own. In the United States, we have nonconsensual intimate images laws that prohibit the threat and distribution of private photos and videos. More specifically, the Take It Down Act was designed to protect victims of such content, and posting it on X violates the platform’s user policies.

The worst part is that none of this needed to happen. The fact that Grok can remove the clothes of unconsenting users — adults or otherwise — is an entirely self-made problem that could have been avoided with some proper guardrails. It should not have been an option in the first place, but now that it is, we have to deal with it. Even more important than that, we have to address how Grok’s behavior could impact X on the world stage.

RELATED: Ted Cruz pelted with insane AI memes as X bans unpaid users from editing pics with Grok

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

1. One more reason to block free speech

Foreign governments have already been looking for excuses to ban X from their slice of the public square ever since Musk opened the platform to free speech in 2022. This latest stunt is the final reason they need to prove that X is “dangerous” to their people, and places like the U.K., Malaysia, and Indonesia are already moving ahead with laws to restrict or downright ban access. This is bad, of course, because X is one of few online platforms that not only values free speech but encourages it. When users lose access to X, wherever they are, they lose access to the truth.

2. A test of political loyalty

While the governments that already hate Elon Musk are a lost cause, legal missteps with Grok unnecessarily test the loyalty and values of U.S. politicians who are friends with Musk. Lawmakers on the right now have to choose between regulating Grok to protect X users who were harmed by the photos and giving Elon a pass while he self-governs the platform into a better place. Meanwhile, the left will continue to villainize Musk, Grok, and X every chance they get, no matter what happens. It’s a tough position to be in, and it’s a shame that it had to come to this at all.

3. Users lose when Grok goes out of control

The deepfake photo scandal has made users — especially young women — more cautious about posting photos of themselves on the platform. Users shouldn’t have to worry about someone creating and sharing intimate images crafted out of their own content. At the same time, users who flock to X for news, engagement, and information shouldn’t have to dodge these photos as they pop up in their feeds, either. The worst part is that Grok is complicit in the whole thing. At this point, Grok’s behavior is making users leery about coming to X instead of bringing them to the platform, which is the last thing X needs as Threads gains ground.

4. Grok is better bot than this

If nothing else, the images Grok has created are legally dubious, and whether the image creation/editing feature is available to the general public or locked behind a subscription paywall, this isn’t a capability that Grok should have. Other AI platforms, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini, block this type of content wholesale. Yes, Grok has always valued free speech above the others, and that is great for users, but deepfakes go beyond the First Amendment. It’s simply illegal to create nonconsensual intimate content of real people and share it online. Further, Musk’s AI platform is far too clever and sophisticated to debase itself down to an adult content creation bot, and that bit needs to be removed from Grok’s source code.

We need X more than Grok

X is so much more than the public square. It’s a bastion of free speech where people of all walks of life from around the globe can speak their minds and share ideas that otherwise would go unheard.

Because of X, the truth about so many topics that would otherwise have been relegated to the shadows has been exposed. Just this past week, footage of Renee Good surfaced, showing that she tried to run over the ICE agent who took her life in self-defense. Without X, the leftist media narrative that she was an innocent woman simply driving away from the scene would have permeated the web and we never would have known the truth. Before that, we saw the protests in Iran erupt as its oppressed citizens fought for freedom. And before that, Nick Shirley exposed the multibillion-dollar fraud unraveling in Minnesota over the Somali-run business debacle. And on and on and on.

X is a vital piece of our political landscape, helping the people combat lies, scandals, censorship, and the left (though I repeat myself), and we’ll need X again in the future when the time is right. The platform it has become is far too important to be a test bed for Grok’s edgiest features. The prevalence of the digital public square, the ability to expose corruption, and the sustainability of the republic all hinge on X maintaining its position as a free, open, and truthful platform, and it would be a terrible shame if Grok’s unchecked features got in the way.