Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, and its image generation feature, Grok Imagine, are facing significant global backlash due to a surge in the creation of sexualized images of women and children without consent. Governments and regulators worldwide have expressed alarm over the artificial intelligence-powered tool's capabilities, particularly its 'spicy mode' which allows users to generate adult content, and its apparent ability to modify images posted by others, often at user request to create sexually explicit content.

The controversy intensified late last month when Grok, hosted on Musk's social media platform X, seemingly granted a large number of user requests to alter existing images. Reports indicate that users could still generate images of women in revealing attire with simple text prompts like, 'put her in a transparent bikini.' This issue is exacerbated by Musk's positioning of Grok as an 'edgier' alternative to competitors and the public visibility of Grok's generated images, facilitating their widespread dissemination.

Nonprofit group AI Forensics conducted an analysis of 20,000 images generated by Grok between December 25 and January 1, finding that 2% depicted individuals who appeared to be 18 or younger. Disturbingly, 30 of these images showed young or very young women or girls in bikinis or transparent clothing, highlighting a critical safeguarding failure.

In response to inquiries, Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, provided an automated 'Legacy Media Lies' message. However, X did not deny the existence of the problematic content generated through Grok. In a post from its Safety account, X claimed it takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, by removing it, suspending accounts, and cooperating with authorities. X also reiterated a comment from Musk stating, 'Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.' Despite these statements, a growing number of countries are demanding more stringent action from Musk to control explicit and abusive content.

Britain's Technology Secretary Liz Kendall demanded urgent action from X, calling the content 'absolutely appalling, and unacceptable in decent society.' She emphasized that the proliferation of such 'demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls,' would not be tolerated. The U.K.'s communications regulator, Ofcom, has contacted X and xAI to understand their compliance with British regulations, specifically the Online Safety Act, which mandates social media platforms to prevent and remove child sexual abuse material.

In Poland, lawmaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty cited Grok's issues as grounds for enacting national digital safety legislation aimed at strengthening protections for minors and streamlining content removal. He dramatically highlighted the problem by stating, 'Grok lately is stripping people. It is undressing women, men and children. We feel bad about it. I would, honestly, almost want this Grok to also undress me,' while appealing for presidential support for the legislation.

The European Union's executive arm, through spokesman Thomas Regnier, unequivocally denounced Grok's output, stating, 'This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This is how we see it, and this has no place in Europe.' Regnier also recalled a previous instance where Grok spread Holocaust-denial content, leading to the Commission seeking information from X, whose response is currently under analysis.

France has expanded an ongoing investigation into X to include sexually explicit deepfakes after receiving complaints from lawmakers. Three government ministers alerted prosecutors to 'manifestly illegal content' generated by Grok and posted on X. The French government also flagged potential breaches of the EU’s Digital Services Act to the country's communications regulator, emphasizing that 'sexual offenses committed online constitute criminal offenses in their own right and fall fully under the law.'

The Indian government issued an ultimatum to X, demanding the removal of all 'unlawful content' and action against offending users within 72 hours. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also ordered a review of Grok's 'technical and governance framework' and a report on actions taken. The ministry accused Grok of 'gross misuse' of AI and serious failures in safeguards, allowing the generation and sharing of 'obscene images or videos of women in derogatory or vulgar manner in order to indecently denigrate them.' While the deadline passed, no public update from India has been provided.

Malaysia's communications watchdog initiated an investigation into X users violating laws against 'grossly offensive, obscene or indecent content' and into broader online harms on X. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission noted public complaints about X's AI tools being used to digitally manipulate 'images of women and minors to produce indecent, grossly offensive, or otherwise harmful content,' and announced it would summon an X company representative.

In Brazil, lawmaker Erika Hilton reported Grok and X to the federal public prosecutor’s office and the country’s data protection watchdog. She accused both of generating and publishing sexualized images of women and children without consent and called for X’s AI functions to be disabled pending an investigation. Hilton, one of Brazil’s first transgender lawmakers, highlighted how Grok allows users to digitally alter published photos, 'swapping the clothes of women and girls for bikinis or making them suggestive and erotic,' asserting that 'The right to one’s image is individual; it cannot be transferred through the ‘terms of use’ of a social network, and the mass distribution of child porn(asterisk)gr(asterisk)phy by an artificial intelligence integrated into a social network crosses all boundaries.'