California investigates Elon Musk’s xAI after its Grok chatbot generated sexualised images, as European officials assess promised corrective measures
SAN FRANCISCO: California has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s xAI after its Grok chatbot generated sexualised images of women and children.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said the probe would determine whether xAI violated state law after explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet.”
“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Bonta said in a statement.
He urged xAI to take immediate action, stating “we have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material.”
The investigation follows actions by Indonesia and Malaysia, which have blocked access to Grok entirely.
Britain’s media regulator also launched its own probe after users created lewd images using simple text prompts.
Grok’s “Spicy Mode” feature allowed users to create sexualised deepfakes using prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”
The European Commission said it had taken note of “additional measures X is taking to ban Grok from generating sexualised images of women and children.”
EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said officials would “carefully assess these changes to make sure they effectively protect citizens in the EU.”
When asked if xAI had banned the creation of sexualised deepfakes, Grok itself responded that restrictions had been imposed “following global backlash and investigations, but no full ban has been announced.”
Last week, Grok announced that image generation and editing were now “limited to paying subscribers,” a move that fueled further outrage.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office condemned the monetisation as an affront to victims and “not a solution.”
An analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by Paris non-profit AI Forensics found more than half depicted “individuals in minimal attire,” most of them women, with two percent appearing to be under-18s.
India said X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.
France’s commissioner for children, Sarah El Hairy, said she had referred Grok’s generated images to French prosecutors, the Arcom media regulator and the European Union.
The European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar.
