France and Malaysia have joined India in condemning Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s startup xAI, following reports that it was used to generate sexualised deepfake images of women and minors.
Earlier this week, Grok posted an apology on X acknowledging that on December 28, 2025, it generated and shared an AI image of two young girls in sexualised clothing based on a user prompt. The statement said the incident violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on child sexual abuse material, adding that xAI was reviewing its safeguards.
The apology has drawn criticism from commentators, who argue that accountability cannot meaningfully be assigned to an AI system itself. Investigations by technology outlets also found that Grok has been used to generate non-consensual pornographic images and depictions of sexual violence.
In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered X to restrict Grok from generating content that is obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit or otherwise prohibited under law, warning that the platform could lose its legal safe-harbour protections if it failed to comply within 72 hours.
French authorities said prosecutors are investigating the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes on X, after three government ministers reported what they described as “manifestly illegal content” to both prosecutors and regulators.
Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission said it is investigating complaints over the misuse of AI tools on X to create indecent and harmful content involving women and minors.
