By Saskya Vandoorne, Sana Noor Haq, NCS
Paris (NCS) — French police raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s X Tuesday and summoned the tech billionaire for questioning as half of a widening probe into the social media firm and its AI chatbot Grok.
The search was linked to an investigation France opened in January 2025, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned Tuesday, including that its cybercrime unit performed the raid with assist from Europol.
Both X chairman Musk and former X chief govt Linda Yaccarino have been summoned to seem at hearings in April, whereas X staff will probably be questioned as witnesses, in response to the Paris prosecutor.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned the investigation, which initially centered on suspected abuse of algorithms, had been broadened to incorporate Grok’s “sexual deepfakes” and the circulation of “Holocaust denial content.”
NCS has reached out to X for remark. The firm has beforehand denied any wrongdoing and in July known as the French investigation “politically motivated” and an assault on free speech.
Last week the European Commission launched a probe into Grok following criticism of its skill to supply sexually specific photos. Scrutiny of that operate got here to a head late final 12 months, when it emerged the chatbot had produced a flood of digitally undressed photos – together with of girls and youngsters – on the behest of customers.
Prosecutors within the French capital mentioned they might look at a raft of potential crimes, together with complicity within the possession and dissemination of little one pornographic photos and the breach of an individual’s picture rights with sexually specific deepfakes.
‘Dangerous consequences’
Policymakers around the globe have struggled to maintain tempo with quickly evolving synthetic intelligence applied sciences and a gulf has emerged between Europe and the US on the regulation of large tech and free speech.
In mid-January X introduced new restrictions on Grok picture era, saying the chatbot might now not undress photos of actual folks. But as of January 20, it might nonetheless be used to generate sexualized photos of people, in response to the European non-profit, AI Forensics.
Internet security campaigners are demanding extra safeguards for marginalized folks on-line, warning of long-term psychological well being and wellbeing impacts on survivors.
“The disturbing rise in AI intimate image abuse, facilitated by platforms such as Grok, is not just a digital threat – it has dangerous consequences women and girls,” mentioned Emma Pickering at UK non-profit Refuge.
“Generative AI has made it easier than ever for perpetrators to create fake images at the expense of women’s safety,” she added in a statement final month.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UK’s info regulator opened an investigation into Grok and its potential to supply dangerous sexualized photos and video content material.
Indonesian and Malaysian authorities blocked Grok in late January however lifted the ban days later, citing measures taken by X to stop the misuse of the chatbot.
The-NCS-Wire
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