Apple Threatened to Drop Elon Musk’s Grok From App Store Over ‘Sexualized Deepfakes’: Report

(Susan Walsh/AP photo)

Apple threatened to remove Elon Musk’s AI app Grok in January over concerns about “sexualized deepfakes,” according to a new report.

NBC News obtained a letter to senators in January revealing the then-tension between Apple and Musk’s artificial intelligence software. Apple reportedly accused both Musk’s Grok and X of being in violation of the app store’s guidelines.

A “takedown warning” was reportedly sent after changes to Grok were submitted, but these changes did not meet Apple’s standards.

The letter from Apple was sent to Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) after the lawmakers expressed concern over X and Grok.

The letter was sent on January 30, according to the report. At issue was X and Grok reportedly allowing users to “undress” others using deepfake AI technology, which has been the subject of multiple investigations into the tech.

Making matters more complicated is the fact that Musk’s X and xAI are suing Apple in a federal lawsuit, accusing the company of unfairly dragging out Grok’s review process, something Apple denies.

In follow-up messages, Apple focused on the newer Grok.

“Apple reviewed the next submissions made by the developers, and determined that X had substantially resolved its violations, but the Grok app remained out of compliance. As a result, we rejected the Grok submission and notified the developer that additional changes to remedy the violation would be required, or the app could be removed from the App Store,” the company said after initially flagging the issues.

After the threat of removal from Apple’s app store, Grok went through more changes and found itself in compliance.

“Following further engagement and changes by the Grok developer, we determined that Grok had substantially improved and therefore approved its latest submission,” Apple told senators in a letter, saying the updates led to “improved software.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!