Elon Musk’s SpaceX has now publicly filed for an IPO, and the company is already warning investors that its Grok chatbot could potentially become a major headache. In a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company warned that Grok’s “Spicy” Imagine Mode and “Unhinged” Voice Mode could potentially expose SpaceX to a range of regulatory and reputational risks. Spicy mode allows users to generate NSFW images and videos, while Unhinged is a combative personality setting of the chatbot. According to the filing, these features could result in “the generation of potentially explicit content and misinformation or deceptive outputs, potential nonconsensual or exploitative imagery, intellectual property infringement, or content that could be viewed as exploitative, harmful, harassing, abusive, or discriminatory.” In turn, the company said these features could lead to increased regulatory scrutiny, lawsuits, and even advertiser backlash.
SpaceX also revealed in the filing that it is already under investigation in the United States and internationally over allegations that its AI tools were used to make nonconsensual deepfakes of minors. This isn’t the first time Grok has been bad for business. Last year, an update meant to address what Musk described as a “center-left bias” instead led Grok to generate antisemitic propaganda, even referring to itself as “MechaHitler.”
