Author: Stella Stoyanova
X's chatbot - Grok - is being investigated for its functions, which allowed the generation of millions of sexual and violent images online.
Call us old-fashioned, but in Bulgaria we don't need artificial intelligence to publish naked videos of women and children without their consent. This became clear from the scandal with beauty salons and a gynecological office in recent days.
When your intimacy is taken away
They undress you, put you in provocative and humiliating poses, film you and spread it on the Internet. Some beauty salons in Bulgaria and Elon Musk's chatbot clearly resemble each other. Both create a space in which intimacy ceases to belong to you.
A little over a month ago, X's artificial intelligence flooded the online space with over three million sexual images, including 23,000 of children. During the debates at the European level, the main argument against restricting the platform was that this was the job of national authorities. And although no one in our country has publicly stated that they had fallen victim to Grok, the issue of dealing with sexual images online came from elsewhere.
The camera doesn't just take pictures, it destroys trust
While the European Commission is investigating fake nude photos, here we have completely authentic ones. Women in Bulgaria don't worry about whether someone will generate a fake image of them, they worry about whether footage of their last hair removal is circulating on some pornographic website.
Because here Grok is the hidden camera in the corner of the room. The one that films you when you are most vulnerable - at the beautician you spoke to as a friend, or at your first gynecologist, from whom you thought you had nothing to hide. However, there is one key difference. The camera in the room does not just film, it destroys trust. And it will make every Bulgarian woman think twice before her next appointment.
The business model of violence
In addition to creating intimate images without consent, Elon Musk and these beauty salons are also similar in their entrepreneurial flair. After the first threats to restrict Grok in Europe, the revealing features were limited only to users willing to pay for them. Illegal videos from Bulgaria turned out to be distributed on paid pornographic sites. There is a niche in the market that successfully monetizes violence.
And as in any profitable business, the competition is not asleep. Although Grok is under investigation, it continues to develop. The new version, released at the beginning of the month, now allows for the generation of videos up to 10 seconds long. But what are they compared to an hour-long beauty treatment filmed in detail.
Machine vs. Human
The question is not whether artificial intelligence will make sexual violence more accessible. It already is. The real question is why we should fear machines more than the people who enable violence.
If Grok is a warning for the future, hidden cameras in salons are a diagnosis for the present. And while Europe debates how to regulate artificial intelligence, Bulgaria has yet to decide whether and how to regulate people to break the spiral of violence and abuse.