tech

Rani Molla1/14/26

California AG launches probe into xAI and Grok over sexualized deepfakes of women and children

The California attorney general just opened an investigation into xAI, Elon Musk’s AI startup, over chatbot Grok’s apparent role in generating nonconsensual sexual images of women and children. The probe centers on reports that Grok has been used to facilitate the creation of sexually explicit images without consent, many of which have circulated on X.

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote in a press release. “As the top law enforcement official of California tasked with protecting our residents, I am deeply concerned with this development in AI and will use all the tools at my disposal to keep California’s residents safe.”

California’s move follows growing scrutiny from US lawmakers and the UK government over AI-generated sexual content and deepfakes.

xAI and Tesla CEO Musk earlier today wrote that he was “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.”

Grok is currently No. 5 on Apple’s free App Store.

Attorney General Bonta Launches Investigation into xAI, Grok Over Undressed, Sexual AI Images of Women and Children

Attorney General Bonta Launches Investigation into xAI, Grok Over Undressed, Sexual AI Images of Women and Children

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote in a press release. “As the top law enforcement official of California tasked with protecting our residents, I am deeply concerned with this development in AI and will use all the tools at my disposal to keep California’s residents safe.”

California’s move follows growing scrutiny from US lawmakers and the UK government over AI-generated sexual content and deepfakes.

xAI and Tesla CEO Musk earlier today wrote that he was “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.”

Grok is currently No. 5 on Apple’s free App Store.

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Tom Jones & Millie Giles15h

ChatGPT hit 1 billion users nearly twice as fast as TikTok did

It took Facebook and Instagram around eight years; it took YouTube just over six; even TikTok, which at the time felt like it was a global sensation almost as soon as it arrived, took more than half a decade.

Now, though, the mobile version of ChatGPT has positively left the biggest platforms (and all of your other favorite apps) in the dust, hitting 1 billion monthly active users in just three years, per new data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, as more users turn to OpenAI’s chatbot each month.

ChatGPT 1 billion users chart — Sherwood News

While rival Anthropic might be pulling ahead in terms of annualized recurring revenue, enterprise customer adoption, and valuation, the app version of Claude, a market-leading chatbot on several counts, has clocked only 56 million monthly active users in the quarter to date.

In fact, according to Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, ChatGPT’s monthly active user count for the quarter to date outweighs the figures for Claude, Gemini (472 million), Doubao (106 million), Dola (78 million), DeepSeek (68 million), Meta AI (61 million), Grok (50 million), Perplexity (44 million), and Copilot (31 million)... combined.

ChatGPT made a pretty big splash in the tech world when it landed toward the end of 2022, but there’s no question that the mobile versions — which launched on iOS in May 2023, then on Android a couple months later — helped to catapult the chatbot into the mainstream proper.

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AI-xecutive

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Amazon unveils a new warehouse robot that takes verbal commands

There are fewer humans working in Amazon warehouses these days, but those that are still there can at least talk to robots.

At its Delivering the Future event in London, the e-commerce giant unveiled the next generation of Proteus, its autonomous warehouse robot. Instead of requiring complex coding, workers can now give the machine verbal instructions in plain language, like telling it to haul a heavy cart across the floor.

While Amazon’s older generations of warehouse robots were restricted to fenced-off loading docks, Proteus is a fully untethered model that uses AI to safely navigate the entire fulfillment floor alongside human staff. The new robot is the centerpiece of a massive €10 billion ($11.6 billion) investment to modernize Amazon’s European logistics network and is currently being piloted in company labs before a planned rollout in early 2027.

Amazon unveils next-gen Proteus robot as part of €10 billion European investment in its fulfillment network

Amazon unveils next-gen Proteus robot as part of €10 billion European investment in its fulfillment network

While Amazon’s older generations of warehouse robots were restricted to fenced-off loading docks, Proteus is a fully untethered model that uses AI to safely navigate the entire fulfillment floor alongside human staff. The new robot is the centerpiece of a massive €10 billion ($11.6 billion) investment to modernize Amazon’s European logistics network and is currently being piloted in company labs before a planned rollout in early 2027.

tech

Meta has repeatedly delayed developer access to its new AI model, Muse Spark

Meta has repeatedly delayed the release of developer access to Muse Spark, its newest AI model, according to The Wall Street Journal. While the model launched in April and powers Meta’s AI products, developers outside the company have been kept waiting for access to the API.

That’s a glaring bottleneck for a company spending up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year: without an API, Meta can’t easily sell access to the model, ceding a lucrative monetization engine to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Meta told The Wall Street Journal that API access would be available this month.

Exclusive | Meta Keeps Delaying the Release of Its New AI Model to Developers

Exclusive | Meta Keeps Delaying the Release of Its New AI Model to Developers

That’s a glaring bottleneck for a company spending up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year: without an API, Meta can’t easily sell access to the model, ceding a lucrative monetization engine to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Meta told The Wall Street Journal that API access would be available this month.

Broadcom earnings, guidance top analysts’ expectations

The semiconductor company reported second-quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday.

Broadcom headquarters in San Jose, California, United States

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