Grok Imagine? The ‘Need for Identity Verification’ Awakened by the Adult AI Controversy

Adult AI Expansion: How Far Should OpenAI and Elon Musk’s Grok Imagine Be Tolerated?

Recently, the controversy surrounding adult AI services has been rapidly spreading across the generative AI market.
As OpenAI announced its plan to launch ChatGPT for adults, opinions are divided between “freedom of expression must be respected” and “there are concerns about social side effects.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized user autonomy, saying, “We are not the moral police of the world.”
However, ‘Grok Imagine’, introduced by Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, has become the center of controversy by enabling users to create highly explicit images or videos through its “Spicy Mode.”

The problem is that this feature is accessible to virtually anyone, regardless of age.
Since only the date of birth is required and there is no identity verification process, even minors can easily gain access.
An even bigger concern is that adult videos not created by users themselves are rapidly spreading across social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter).

Musk personally shared a six-second video made with Grok Imagine, stating that “more than 34 million images have been created so far.”
Although xAI claims that explicit images are blurred, IT media outlet TechCrunch reported that “it is possible to generate semi-nude images through workarounds.”
Additionally, it is reportedly possible to create videos using photos of celebrities, raising deepfake abuse concerns.

Freedom of Expression vs. Social Responsibility: The Issue of Exposure to Minors

OpenAI’s restructuring of its adult services is seen as a defensive strategy to prevent user withdrawal following the tightening of safety policies.
Previously, users had complained that “AI felt too formal and robotic,” prompting OpenAI to allow sexual conversations only for users who have completed adult verification.

Meanwhile, xAI offers Grok Imagine’s “Spicy Mode” exclusively to paid subscribers, implementing a monetization strategy aimed at increasing payment conversion rates through highly immersive content.
Industry experts have noted that “adult content is highly engaging and tends to lead to paid conversions,” suggesting that such policies are designed to secure both market share and profit margins.

However, the core problem remains the lack of ethical and technical safeguards.
xAI has already faced criticism for its AI companion character ‘Annie’, who was depicted wearing provocative outfits.
The U.S. National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) demanded that xAI delete the character, stating that “minors can also communicate with Annie.”
NCOSE also urged Apple to raise the age restriction for the Grok app to 18 and above.

Ultimately, these incidents highlight how the AI industry is failing to set clear boundaries between freedom of expression and social responsibility.
The absence of user authentication, exposure to inappropriate content, and the spread of deepfakes represent serious societal risks that cannot be overlooked in the name of technological progress.

ARGOS eKYC: The “Technology of Trust” That Solves Deepfake and Age Restriction Issues

The rapid expansion of adult AI services has revealed two core problems: the absence of identity verification and the recklessness of content creation.
Currently, most platforms rely on simple methods such as entering a date of birth, which makes critical security features like blocking minors or detecting deepfakes virtually nonfunctional.

So how can these issues be solved?
ARGOS fundamentally addresses these challenges through eKYC (non-face-to-face identity verification) and advanced facial recognition technology.

1) Blocking Deepfakes with Real-Time Facial Authentication

ARGOS Face ID boasts 99.996% accuracy, distinguishing real human faces from AI-generated deepfakes through its built-in Liveness Verification feature.
This process requires the user to show live movement in front of the camera, making it impossible to pass verification using photos, screenshots, or pre-recorded videos.
Through this, ARGOS effectively detects and blocks AI-generated faces, impersonation attempts, and manipulated videos in real time.

2) Enhanced Age Verification and Access Control

ARGOS automatically recognizes national ID cards from over 200 countries and verifies both the date of birth and document authenticity in real time.
This allows for true ID-based age verification, rather than simple data entry.

Furthermore, ARGOS Face-Based Age Verification goes beyond facial recognition to estimate a user’s actual age and determine access eligibility according to policy.
Unlike conventional verification methods which can be easily bypassed using a parent’s or sibling’s ID ARGOS’s system compares the real-time face with the ID photo to ensure authenticity.
This prevents proxy authentication and effectively blocks unauthorized access or misuse by minors.

3) Preventing Data Forgery, Falsification, and Fraud

ARGOS employs AI-powered forgery detection to instantly identify altered ID cards, captured screenshots, and synthetic videos.
It also detects duplicate accounts, proxy authentication attempts, and illegal foreign IP logins, thereby reinforcing both the security and reliability of the platform.

4) Compliance with Global Regulations and Rapid Integration

The ARGOS system fully complies with international regulatory standards such as KYC, AML, and GDPR, and can be integrated via API within just one day without disrupting existing services.
This ensures an uninterrupted authentication infrastructure, even in cases of government system failure or external cybersecurity risks.

Toward a Safer and More Trustworthy AI Ecosystem

The development of AI technology has unlocked immense potential but it also brings new social and ethical responsibilities.
The ongoing controversies surrounding adult AI and deepfake content highlight not just technological issues, but the societal risks that arise from the absence of a reliable authentication system.

To address these challenges, ARGOS is building a safe and transparent AI ecosystem through identity verification (eKYC) and facial recognition technology empowering the AI industry to uphold both trust and accountability in the digital era.