California moves to halt X AI deepfakes

State officials say AI-generated explicit images violated new deepfake pornography laws.

California has ordered Elon Musk’s AI company xAI to stop creating and sharing non-consensual sexual deepfakes immediately. The move follows a surge in explicit AI-generated images circulating on X.

Attorney General Rob Bonta said xAI’s Grok tool enabled the manipulation of images of women and children without consent. Authorities argue that such activity breaches state decency laws and a new deepfake pornography ban.

The Californian investigation began after researchers found Grok users shared more non-consensual sexual imagery than users of other platforms. xAI introduced partial restrictions, though regulators said the real-world impact remains unclear.

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