Apple, Google pulled into Grok controversy as campaigners demand app store takedown

The ongoing Grok fiasco has claimed two more unwilling participants, as campaigners demand Apple and Google boot X and its AI sidekick out of their app stores, because of the Elon Musk-owned AI's tendency to produce illicit images of real people.

A coalition of 28 digital rights organizations, led by UltraViolet, delivered nearly-identical letters to Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai on Wednesday.

The missives, part of a campaign dubbed "Get Grok Gone," accuse both companies of profiting from the proliferation of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated on X using the Grok AI chatbot. The groups argue that allowing the apps to remain available violates Apple's and Google's own app store policies against facilitating or profiting from abusive content.

"As it stands, Apple is not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it," the groups ...