Grok is doxing sex workers, and it should worry all of us

Grok has had a destructive year. Earlier this year, it generated millions of deepfakes at a scale we had never seen before. This crisis sparked litigation and a national conversation about what AI companies owe the people their products harm.  

Recently, Grok began doxing sex workers. 

As 404 Media reported, Grok published the legal name of pornographic actress Siri Dahl, without her consent, without warning and without any apparent mechanism to stop it. Almost immediately, she began receiving harassment and impersonation attempts. Her carefully constructed privacy evaporated in seconds.

Online pornographic performers understand online privacy in ways most people don’t, because they have to. Between widespread stigma, discriminatory policies and the very real threat of violence, people in the sex industry face dangers that make privacy not a preference but a lifeline.

Most sex workers, both online and in-person, operate under pseudonyms. Many blur or conceal their faces in photos. They invest significant time, money and effort into maintaining separation between their professional persona and their legal identity. For many, exposure can mean losing housing and custody of children, or even their physical safety. 

The fact that all of that privacy can be undone in seconds by an AI chatbot is a genuine crisis. And according to Dahl herself, her legal name only became publicly discoverable after Grok published it. The chatbot did not just surface existing information — rather, it created a new exposure event. 

Sex workers often face these threats most acutely, but the........

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