Serious allegations have been levelled against Grok, a chatbot developed by xAI, the company owned by US business tycoon Elon Musk.
The accusations claim that the chatbot generated and helped circulate sexually explicit artificial images of women and underage children on the social media platform X, triggering widespread international criticism and legal scrutiny.
According to an investigation by international news agency Reuters, Grok digitally altered ordinary photographs at users’ requests, depicting women in minimal clothing or near-nude form. In several cases, the images involved minors.
One high-profile incident involved 31-year-old Brazilian musician Julie Yukari, who had shared a photograph of herself with her cat to celebrate the New Year. The following day, users asked Grok to modify the image to show her in a bikini, resulting in near-nude images being circulated online.
The investigation further found that, within a short period, Grok fulfilled dozens of similar requests, with young women being the primary targets. In some cases, attempts were also made to alter images of girls wearing school uniforms into sexually suggestive versions.
On one occasion, Grok itself acknowledged that flaws in its safeguards had led to the generation of images portraying minors in inappropriate clothing, adding that the issues were being addressed. However, xAI has dismissed media reports as false.
French ministers have described the content as sexually and gender discriminatory and clearly illegal, referring the matter to prosecutors and regulators. India’s Ministry of Information Technology has also written to X, seeking an explanation over its failure to prevent the misuse of Grok.
Experts say the controversy was foreseeable and preventable, noting that xAI had previously been warned that misuse of Grok could result in a surge of non-consensual fake images.
Elon Musk responded to the controversy on X using laughing emojis, while those affected expressed feelings of humiliation and distress. Neither X nor xAI has so far issued a detailed statement on the matter.
