Bytes: Week in Review – New year, new state AI laws, new showdown with Trump admin.
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What recent issues is X (formerly Twitter) facing with its AI chatbot Grok?
New year, new state AI laws, new showdown with the Trump administration. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. Late last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to block states from enforcing local AI regulations, something a majority of them have adopted in some form. We'll talk about what's next in this potential showdown on today's Marketplace Tech Bytes Week in Review. Plus, Meta is a victim of its own success. Its new Ray-Ban smart glasses are selling too fast to keep up with demand. But first, X, formerly Twitter, is facing a global backlash because people are using the platform's AI chatbot Grok to generate non-consensual intimate imagery.
Users have been popping up in the replies of women and sometimes minors tagging Grok and asking it to generate images of them in bikinis or undressed. The company and its owner, Elon Musk, have both clarified that illegal content on X will not be tolerated. We spoke with Maria Curie, tech policy reporter at Axios, to learn more.
So we already know that globally in Europe and in India, XAI and Grok, they're facing already investigations. Here in the United States, there is a new law that comes into effect in May called the Take It Down Act. This was a law that was championed by the White House, specifically by First Lady Melania Trump. And it essentially prohibits these kinds of images from being published.
What is the Take It Down Act and how does it impact AI-generated content?
And so we have seen the bill sponsors, you know, Senator Ted Cruz's say that this is an issue that he wants the Take It Down Act enforced. We've also heard from the Department of Justice that they are also taking this issue very seriously and want to see these laws enforced. I chatted with sources who were really instrumental in getting the Take It Down Act across the finish line, and they noted that while this law does apply to this case and could provide an opening for litigation, There is another bill in the works called the Defiance Act that may be more applicable because it applies not just to the publication of these materials, but also to the creation of these materials, the solicitation of these materials.
And instead of just a criminal case being launched by authorities, which is what the Take It Down Act would do, The Defiance Act would allow individuals to sue. And so it provides more avenues. We do expect to see that law pick up momentum in Congress pretty soon. And we saw one of its lead sponsors, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, come out and highlight that. So that's what we're keeping an eye on.
Then there is this very interesting legal question about whether AI companies or these social media platforms that have these generative AI tools are liable for the content generated by a chatbot. Historically, internet companies have been shielded from liability for the content that users post. This is sort of like what made the whole social media era possible. But there's a lot of speculation that this, you know, Section 230, as it's known, might not apply to chatbot outputs.
How is the Defiance Act different from the Take It Down Act?
Tell us more about, you know, what this would mean.
Yeah, so Section 230 basically says that the tech platforms are not liable for what users are posting. But in this new era of chatbots, that doesn't necessarily apply as cleanly because you have a user prompting the chatbot to do something, and then the chatbot itself or the company itself is generating that image. And in the case of XAI and Grok, it's even more interesting because not only is the company generating that image, it is then redistributing it on Grok's platform itself. on X. And so there are legal experts that say Section 230 may not be as reliable in cases with chatbots.
Definitely something that we will be watching closely. But now we want to dig into this conflict between the Trump administration and states over regulating AI. This is something that we talked about before this Trump executive order happened because the Trump administration had been trying and failing to push a ban on state-level AI laws through Congress.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What recent issues is X (formerly Twitter) facing with its AI chatbot Grok?
0:01–1:45
2
What is the Take It Down Act and how does it impact AI-generated content?
1:45–3:30
3
How is the Defiance Act different from the Take It Down Act?
3:30–5:10
4
What legal questions arise regarding AI companies and chatbot liability?
5:10–6:53
5
How does the Trump administration's executive order affect state AI regulations?
6:53–8:10
6
What are the implications of the new AI laws being enacted in various states?
8:10–9:28
7
How are Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses performing in the market?
9:28–10:37
8
What privacy concerns are associated with wearable technology like smart glasses?
10:37–13:21