Elon Musk's AI is generating sexualised images of real people, fueling outrage

Last week, a young woman posted a photo of herself on X wearing a blue tank top.

Dozens of people replied to her post to ask Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot created by Elon Musk, to generate new images of the woman in lingerie or bikinis. The AI images -- which Grok added as replies to her post -- racked up thousands of views.

"Why is this allowed?" the woman asked in a post.


The altered pictures were part of a recent flood of Grok-generated images that sexualize women and children on X, Musk's social media platform.

The subjects of these images have decried the pictures, and some have appealed to Musk to ban the technology or remove the photos. Others have threatened legal action.

Late Thursday, the Grok account on X started limiting requests for AI images to site subscribers who pay for certain premium features, according to posts from the chatbot.

The change followed a "backlash over its ability to create sexualized deepfakes without consent," the AI chatbot added, but users can "subscribe or switch to the standalone Grok site for similar functions."

By allowing Grok to create nearly nude images of real people, Musk is entering legally risky territory, and regulators have taken notice. A Brazilian official on Monday called for a ban of X until the nation can investigate the surge in sexualized images, while Indian regulators demanded on Saturday that X and xAI take steps to prevent the misuse. Two French lawmakers announced last Friday that they had reported X to the Paris public prosecutor, and the European Commission said this week that it was looking into the activity.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said Thursday that he had asked the country's online regulator "for all options to be on the table" in response.

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., on Friday sent a letter asking Apple and Google to remove the X and Grok apps from their app stores.

Musk said in a post Saturday that accounts trying to use Grok to create images of undressed children would suffer "consequences." In a statement posted on X, the social media company said it would remove illegal content depicting children and permanently suspend accounts that asked Grok to create such images.