Apple Is Reportedly Threatened To Remove Grok From The App Store With Deepfakes

Grok, an AI app owned by Elon Musk’s xAI, was nearly released from the Apple Store earlier this year. in the midst of scandals over deepfakes of the sex of real people produced by a tool that spread in X, known as Twitter.

According to a report from NBC News, Apple told US senators in a letter about its cooperation with xAI on the app, including warnings that Grok would be removed from the App Store if changes were not made to address the serious problem. A separate report from NBC this week, an investigation into Grok, found that AI-generated porn images are still coming out of Grok and spreading online.

Representatives for Apple and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CNET also reached out to the press offices of three senators who wrote a letter to Apple and Google (PDF) in January urging them to use app store rules to address Grok’s deep problems.

Grok is the main AI tool available to social media X users, and in addition to being able to answer questions like a chatbot, Grok can also generate images and videos. Late last year, reports emerged of widespread abuse of the service from users who requested sexual images of people, including children, which were then sent to X. Since then, Musk has sent updates about the changes to Grok and the protections installed, but a report by NBC News suggests that those changes did not eliminate the use of Grok AI for deep sexual images, including the costs of AI sports, including AI. bras.

In a statement about X, the company said, “We strictly forbid users to generate deepfakes that have not agreed to use our tools to unmask real people. xAI has extensive safeguards in place to prevent such misuse, such as continuous monitoring of social usage, real-time analysis of evasion attempts, regular model updates, fast security filters, and additional security filters.”

Back and forth with Apple

A report from NBC News points to communications from Apple telling senators that, in response to public outcry about Grok, it warned that changes needed to be made to both the X and Grok apps. xAI reportedly submitted app versions of both, the Grok app was rejected and reworked to meet Apple’s approval.

In a letter from Apple, the company’s executive director of government affairs, Timothy Powderly, told the chiefs that, “Apple abhors these types of images and the harm they cause. Apps that generate and distribute such content violate our policies, and are not allowed on our platform.”

The letter, shared with CNET by the office of Sen. Ron Wyden, explains Apple’s app policies and the actions it has taken with X and Grok apps. Apple said that after that process, “we determined that Grok was more advanced and therefore approved its latest shipment. This approval allowed Grok to update the applications installed on user devices with improved software. We expect Grok to include additional improvements in subsequent shipments.”

Apple has left the door open to future removals if Grok violates Apple’s terms. “As we’ve made clear to them — like all developers — if they can’t comply with the Guidelines, they will be removed from the App Store.”

In a statement sent to CNET, Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, also criticized Google for not responding to a request from lawmakers related to concerns about Grok. A Google representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Thank you for Apple’s detailed response to our questions about how it responded to the rampant proliferation of CSAM and inconsistent deepfakes in Grok and X apps,” Wyden said. “It’s still shocking [President Donald] Trump’s Justice Department has taken no action to hold X accountable for the production and distribution of a mass of evil.”