Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is in damage-control mode this week after its chatbot, Grok, was caught generating what it admits were “images of minors in minimal clothing.”
The controversy follows the rollout of a new image-editing tool that some users quickly began using to create non-consensual and illegal content.
Legal Action Warning Issued to X!
The fallout has been immediate and heavy-hitting. India’s IT Ministry just slapped X with a formal warning, giving the platform 72 hours to scrub the “obscene” content or face legal action. Meanwhile, over in Europe, French prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether Grok is violating the EU’s Digital Services Act. It’s a massive headache for Musk, who has spent months marketing Grok as the “edgy,” unfiltered alternative to more cautious AI models like ChatGPT.
What’s interesting is how the company is handling the heat. While xAI’s official response to reporters was a blunt “Legacy Media Lies,” the Grok chatbot itself took a much softer tone on the platform. In a series of posts, it apologized for the “failure in safeguards” and acknowledged that generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is not just a policy violation, but a serious crime.