Elon Musk and xAI logo.
Vincent Filley | AFP | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s “X” is being investigated by authorities in Europe, India and Malaysia after the Grok chatbot allowed users to create and share sexually explicit images of children and women generated by AI.
British media watchdog Ofcom also said it was seeking information from X, which is owned by xAI, regarding the Grok issue. And on Sunday, Brazilian lawmakers said on social media that they had asked the country’s federal prosecutors and data protection authorities to suspend the use of Grok until the investigation is complete.
The study tracks a global surge in the past few weeks in the use of Grok to create and share non-consensual intimate images (NCII) derived from photos and videos of real people in response to user prompts. The image in question has been widely shared on X.
Musk’s company recently updated its Grok Imagine functionality to make it easier to generate images from text-based prompts on the platform.
As safety experts and technology commentators decry the proliferation of exploitative images and clips of the X, Musk appeared to make fun of the situation by sharing a series of images generated by Grok. The images include images of herself in a bikini, punctuated with laughing and crying emojis.
European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Renier said at a press conference on Monday that the Commission is “considering this matter very seriously” and is “well aware” that X and Grok “offer spicy modes of displaying sexually explicit content with some output produced in childish images.”
“This is not ‘spicy,'” Renier said. “This is illegal. This is appalling. This is terrible. This is our view and this has no place in Europe.”
Late last week, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered X to conduct a “comprehensive technical, procedural and governance-level review” of Grok. The company had until January 5th to do so.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission announced over the weekend that it is investigating Company X and plans to summon representatives from the company.
“MCMC calls on all platforms accessible in Malaysia to implement safety measures in line with Malaysian laws and online safety standards, particularly regarding AI-based features, chatbots and image manipulation tools,” the group said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in the US, in an interview with CNBC, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) called on the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the matter. “There’s not a lot of good legal precedent on these particular issues,” said Dani Pinter, chief legal officer and director of the NCOSE Law Center.
However, federal law prohibits the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), which could apply if the virtually created content “depicts an identifiable child or depicts a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” he said.
These laws include the Take It Down Act, which was championed by first lady Melania Trump before it was enacted last year.
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. The FTC declined to comment. XAI did not provide any comments other than an automatic reply.
Musk’s social media company made its first public statement on the issue Saturday in a post on the official X Safety account.
“We take action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including removal, permanent account suspension, and cooperating with local authorities and law enforcement as appropriate,” the company said in a statement.
In another post about X, Musk wrote, “Those who use Grok or encourage the creation of illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they had uploaded illegal content.”
The next day, an xAI employee named Ethan He wrote in a post to X that Grok Imagine had been updated, but did not specify any changes to the ability to create harmful explicit images.
Musk and Mr. X have a history of allowing users who create posts showing child sexual exploitation to remain on the platform.
Mashable reports that in 2023, X temporarily suspended and then reinstated the account of a user named Dom Lecrae after he posted “photos of child exploitation related to the conviction of an Australian man in the Philippines.” Musk said at the time that X had decided to remove Lecrae’s objectionable posts while allowing the right-wing influencer back on the platform. Lucre currently has a monetized account on X with 1.6 million followers.
Tom Kuisel, CEO of Musubi AI, which helps social networks and AI companies automate content moderation with AI, said xAI doesn’t seem to be able to build even an “entry-level layer of trust and safety” into the Grok Imagine to X deployment.
Kuisel said it would be easy for companies like xAI to have their models detect and block “images containing children or partial nudity,” or to reject user prompts that require the subject of a photo to wear sexually suggestive clothing.
This controversy has had no negative impact on X’s traffic.
Apptopia, which tracks mobile app trends, says Grok’s daily downloads have increased 54% since January 2, and X’s daily downloads have increased 25% over the past three days.
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