Speaking to American Family News, Haley McNamara with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation explains X has created an AI tool called "Grok" that will have sexually explicit conversations with users. She's concerned, arguing it's putting children's safety at risk.
"This is a problem with X … which as many people know also has created an AI app called Grok," McNamara explains. "Unfortunately, they have decided to create some not-safe-for-work* features within this app, including an AI character named 'Ani' who will have sexually explicit conversations with users through the Chatbot." (Caution: Previous link contains language and images that some may find offensive.)
That feature, she continues, "means sexually explicit – and unfortunately, there is no age verification to prevent children from accessing this tool."
The social media platform has said that it wants to release a more kid-friendly AI tool called "Baby Grok," but McNamara believes that this could create yet another threat to child safety online.
"We believe they do not have a good track record on prioritizing child safety, and they probably shouldn't be trying to make products for kids until they make all of their products safe," she states.
CNET.com recognizes a distinctive difference between Grok and other AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT):
"While [those tools] tend to be neutral or overly polite, Grok is intentionally informal. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's snarky – and sometimes it just goes too far."
McNamara encourages parents to help with this issue by going to NCOSE's website and signing the online petition telling Grok to remove the sexually explicit features from its AI "companions."
* NSFW is internet slang for Not Safe For Work
