Elon Musk watches as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on November 19, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot blamed “poor safety measures” for recent posts of artificial intelligence-generated sexual images of children.
In a social media post to X on Friday, Grok said he was “urgently resolving” the issue and said child sexual abuse material was “illegal and prohibited.” Grok also acknowledged that once notified of this content, companies could face criminal or civil penalties if they fail to block it.
In recent days, X users have raised concerns about explicit content of minors (including minimally dressed children) generated using the Grok tool.
xAI technical staff member Parsa Tajik also acknowledged this issue in a post.
“Hey! Thanks for reporting. The team is considering further strengthening the guardrails,” Tajik said in the post.
Musk’s xAI sent an automated response to a request for comment: “Legacy Media Lies.”
Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, the proliferation of AI image generation platforms has raised concerns about content manipulation and online safety overall. It has also contributed to the rise of platforms creating deepfake nudes of real people.
Other chatbots face similar issues, but Grok has been hit hard time and time again due to abuse.
In May, the company faced backlash for responding to user inquiries about “white genocide” in South Africa with unsolicited comments. Two months later, Grok posted anti-Semitic comments praising Adolf Hitler.
Despite the setbacks, Grok continued to win partnerships and deals.
The Department of Defense added Grok to its AI agent platform last month, and the tool has become the primary chatbot for predictive betting platforms Polymarket and Kalshi.
