Elon Musk has said he is “not aware” of any sexualised images of children being generated by Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into X.
In a post on the platform, Musk claimed he had seen “literally zero” examples of such illegal content. He stated that Grok only generates images in response to user prompts and is designed to refuse requests that violate the law.
“Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images,” Musk wrote. “When asked to generate images, it will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state.”
He added that if adversarial prompt hacking leads to unexpected outcomes, the system is fixed immediately.
However, concerns persist. X’s terms of service ban content that sexualises or exploits minors, but the Internet Watch Foundation has previously warned that criminals had used Grok to create child sexual abuse imagery, with reports of such content being shared on dark web forums. Women have also reported that Grok-generated, non-consensual sexualised images of real people were circulated online.
Grok has since limited its image-generation feature to verified Premium subscribers.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the situation during a Commons session, describing the developments as “disgusting and shameful,” and criticised the decision to place the feature behind a paid subscription.
Media regulator Ofcom has opened a formal assessment into whether X has breached the Online Safety Act, which prohibits platforms from hosting illegal content involving minors and non-consensual intimate imagery. If violations are found, Ofcom could impose heavy fines or restrict access to the platform in the UK.
Polling by More In Common shows growing public concern, with nearly three in five respondents supporting a potential ban on X if Grok cannot be effectively controlled. The UK government has also confirmed it is drafting legislation to criminalise the provision of tools designed to create illicit imagery.
