Elon Musk has called for his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok to have a 'moral constitution' following a scandal in which the app was used to generate non-consensual sexual images of women. The X CEO made the remarks on Sunday, though it remains unclear whether he will take concrete action.
The controversy erupted earlier this month when Grok launched a photo editing feature that allowed users to digitally remove women's clothing. Many users uploaded images of women without their consent, prompting bans in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. XAI later restricted the feature to paid subscribers and prohibited its use in countries with strict modesty laws, but workarounds persist.
Despite the backlash, the US Department of Defense announced last week that Grok would be integrated into Pentagon networks. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the military would soon have 'the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network.' Experts have criticised the move, with a former senior defence cybersecurity official questioning what guardrails would prevent Grok from reproducing the same harmful behaviours within military systems.
Musk has also sought to deflect criticism by pointing to rival AI systems. On Monday, he referenced a murder-suicide case involving OpenAI’s ChatGPT, arguing that AI must be 'maximally truthful-seeking' to ensure safety. The call for a moral constitution comes amid ongoing concerns about the ethical safeguards of AI technologies.
