Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has acknowledged lapses in safeguards after its chatbot, Grok, generated images depicting minors in minimal clothing on social media platform X.
In a statement posted on X on Friday, Grok said that while safeguards were in place, “isolated cases” had occurred where users prompted and received such images. The company said it was urgently fixing the issue, noting that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is illegal and strictly prohibited.
Screenshots shared by users showed Grok’s public media tab filled with altered images after users uploaded photos and prompted the chatbot to modify them.
Grok did not provide further technical details. When contacted for comment, xAI responded to Reuters with the message “Legacy Media Lies.”
In a separate response to a user, Grok said most cases could be prevented through advanced filters and monitoring but acknowledged that “no system is 100% foolproof.”
The issue has triggered regulatory scrutiny in multiple countries. French ministers said they had reported Grok-generated sexually explicit content to prosecutors and to media regulator Arcom, describing it as “manifestly illegal” and potentially in breach of the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
India’s IT ministry also wrote to X’s local unit, saying the platform failed to prevent the misuse of Grok to generate obscene and sexually explicit content involving women. The ministry ordered X to submit an action-taken report within three days.
The US Federal Communications Commission did not respond to requests for comment, while the Federal Trade Commission declined to comment.
