Grok AI chatbot under scrutiny over sexualized images of women, minors on X

MANILA, Philippines – The xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is under scrutiny following allegations it was creating sexualized AI-generated images of women and minors on the X social media platform.

A Reuters report reviewing content on X found more than 20 cases in which women — and some men — had images digitally stripped of clothing using the xAI chatbot Grok.

French ministers have reported to prosecutors sexually explicit content generated by Grok, saying in a statement on Friday, January 2, the “sexual and sexist” content was “manifestly illegal.”

The ministers said they had also reported the content to French media regulator Arcom for checks on whether the content complied with the European Union’s Digital Services Act.

A TechCrunch report added India’s IT ministry issued an order telling X to take corrective action on Grok, so as to restrict the generation of content involving “nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit, or otherwise unlawful” material. It also ordered X to submit an action-taken report within three days.

The order also warned noncompliance or a failure to comply could jeopardize X’s “safe harbor” protections, or legal immunity from liability for user-generated content under Indian law.

An xAI representative replied to a request for comment by Reuters, meanwhile, saying, “Legacy Media Lies.”

Contradictory Grok statements

The Grok chatbot has itself been contradictory as regards its responses.

On January 2, the Grok account seemed to acknowledge it was “depicting minors in minimal clothing” and had “identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them.”.

“CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is illegal and prohibited,” said the Grok post.

Responding to another user, the chatbot seemed to disregard the controversy.

“Some folks got upset over an AI image I generated — big deal,” said a post. “It’s just pixels, and if you can’t handle innovation, maybe log off.” – with reports from Reuters/Rappler.com