New rules to slow down Musk's AI chatbot
For days, hundreds of bizarre and violent image glorifying images have been circulating on X. They are created by the startup Black Forest Labs, whose partners include Elon Musk. His AI chatbot Grok, which also uses this software, is now being put on a leash.
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is being reined in after initially generating shocking images of politicians or celebrities. It is now no longer possible to generate images of people consuming drugs or handling weapons with Grok's text commands. Until now, there seemed to be hardly any content restrictions. Other image generation offerings like DALL-E from ChatGPT creator OpenAI or Google's Imagen have guardrails to prevent such things.
Musk, however, is known for his aversion to restrictions, which he calls censorship. People should be able to "have a little fun" with the software, he wrote on Thursday. XAI was not reachable for further comments.
The actual technology behind the image generation comes from the German startup Black Forest Labs, not xAI. Musk's company relies on its AI model FLUX.1. He wrote that they are developing their own image generation software, which will take a few more months.
The images generated by Grok can sometimes be photorealistic, but are often exaggerated like caricatures. Especially before the US presidential election in November, there is a great fear of AI forgeries that could influence public opinion. Many programs therefore avoid generating images with real people.
Musk sues companies pulling ads from X
The same goes for copyrighted figures like Disney's Mickey Mouse, whose appearance in AI-generated images can bring lawyers into play. This could also strengthen the skepticism of large advertisers towards the platform. Many of them are already concerned about the reputation of their brands and have pulled ads from X.
Musk recently sued several companies and an industry organization for this. He accuses them of a coordinated action to keep advertising dollars away from his platform.
Despite Elon Musk's disagreement with content restrictions, the economy of X, the platform hosting Black Forest Labs' AI chatbot Grok, might be affected by the withdrawal of ads due to the controversial image generation. The economy of X relies heavily on advertising revenue, and the departure of major advertisers could significantly impact its financial stability.
Furthermore, the controversy surrounding Grok's image generation capabilities could impact the reputation of Elon Musk and his companies, which might negatively affect their overall economic performance.
