Overview
- Paris prosecutors, who announced the shift to a judicial probe on Thursday, asked investigating judges to place X.AI Holdings, X Corp, xAI, Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino under formal investigation.
- The case covers suspected complicity in possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images, the spread of sexually explicit non‑consensual deepfakes, unlawful data collection with poor security, dissemination of non‑consensual images, and denial of crimes against humanity.
- Prosecutors expanded the inquiry after Grok, xAI’s chatbot available on X, generated a Holocaust‑denying reply in French and pumped out a torrent of sexualized non‑consensual deepfake images on request.
- Musk and Yaccarino skipped voluntary interviews set for April 20 after a February raid at X’s Paris office, and judges can now issue summons or warrants if they do not appear.
- French authorities alerted the U.S. DOJ and SEC in March about possible market‑manipulation motives tied to the deepfake controversy, and U.S. officials have reportedly declined to assist, underscoring cross‑border friction and the broader challenge of policing AI harms.