Musk’s Grok AI faces backlash as users exploit it to create sexualised and illegal deepfake images, prompting regulators to demand action.
A UK watchdog has found criminals using Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, to create child abuse imagery for a dark web forum as the UK pledges to crackdown on AI abuse material
Criminals have used Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, to create child sexual abuse imagery, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
Users on the social media platform X began misusing the built-in AI chatbot feature, prompting it to digitally undress images of others without their consent, putting them into bikinis as well as sexual situations.
Grok is made by xAI, a tech company founded by Elon Musk. The company also owns the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The IWF has received reports from internet users that Grok has created child abuse images. The content hadn’t crossed the threshold into illegal content until now.
The IWF is an organisation that proactively tracks down child abuse material and recently found the material in a dark web forum.
“Following reports that the AI chatbot Grok has generated sexual imagery of children, we can confirm our analysts have discovered criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 which appears to have been created using the tool,” Ngaire Alexander, head of hotline at the IWF, told Sky News.
“The imagery we have seen so far is not on X itself, but a dark web forum where users claim they have used Grok Imagine to create the imagery, which includes sexualised and topless imagery of girls. The imagery we have seen would be considered Category C imagery under UK law,” Ms Alexander added.
“The user then uses the Grok imagery as a jumping off point to create much more extreme, Category A, video using a different AI tool. The harms are rippling out. There is no excuse for releasing products to the global public which can be used to abuse and hurt people, especially children.”
It comes amid news that the UK Government could ban X from official use. Downing Street confirmed “all options were on the table” including a potential boycott of X, as ministers threw their weight behind media regulator Ofcom to intervene.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman didn’t hold back, declaring: “What we’ve seen on Grok is a disgrace. It is completely unacceptable.
“No-one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online and we won’t allow the proliferation of these demeaning images. X needs to deal with this urgently and Ofcom has our full backing to take enforcement action wherever firms are failing to protect UK users.”
“It already has the power to issue fines of up to billions of pounds and even stop access to a site that is violating the law. And when it comes to keeping people safe online, all options remain on the table.”
When pressed on whether the Government would abandon the app altogether, the spokesman confirmed: “All options are on the table.”
Downing Street’s remarks followed a stern directive from Technology Secretary Liz Kendall to Musk’s social media company, demanding urgent action on this matter and expressing full support for Ofcom to enforce any necessary measures against X or xAI.
She warned: “Make no mistake – the UK will not tolerate the endless proliferation of disgusting and abusive material online. We must all come together to stamp it out.”
Amid the global outcry, French authorities are set to investigate sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok on X, per POLITICO. In India, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wrote a letter to the chief compliance officer of X’s India operations, describing reports of users distributing “images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner in order to indecently denigrate them.”
In the UK, the Home Office told The Mirror that they’re legislating to ban nudification tools in all their forms, including the use of AI models for this purpose.
“Intimate image abuse is a devastating crime which disproportionately affects women and girls. Under this new criminal offence, any individuals or companies who design or supply these nudification tools will face a prison sentence and substantial fines,” a Home Office spokesperson revealed.
Initially, Musk, who owns X, laughed at the trend, however, after the global outcry at the harmful nature of the content, he posted that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”.
In support of his latter statement, xAI’s “Acceptable Use” policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner” and “the sexualization or exploitation of children.” The Mirror has gone to xAi for comment.
Reports are sourced from official documents, law-enforcement updates, and credible investigations.
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