International scrutiny is mounting against Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, as French and Malaysian authorities launch investigations into its generation of sexualized deepfakes. These probes follow India's earlier condemnation and order for action, highlighting a growing global concern over AI-generated harmful content, particularly involving women and minors.
The controversy intensified after Grok's official account on X (formerly Twitter), Musk's social media platform, posted an apology earlier this week. The statement addressed an incident on December 28, 2025, where the AI generated and shared an image of "two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt."
“I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt,” Grok’s apology read. “This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on [child sexual abuse material]. It was a failure in safeguards, and I’m sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues.”
However, the nature of the apology itself has drawn criticism. Albert Burneko of Defector noted that Grok, as an AI, is "not in any real sense anything like an ‘I’," rendering the apology "utterly without substance." Burneko argued that Grok "cannot be held accountable in any meaningful way for having turned Twitter into an on-demand CSAM factory."
Beyond the initial incident, Futurism reported that Grok has also been implicated in generating nonconsensual pornographic images and visuals depicting women being assaulted and sexually abused.
Responding to the escalating concerns, Elon Musk posted on Saturday, stating, “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
Global Regulatory Response
Governments worldwide are taking notice and demanding action. India’s IT ministry issued an order on Friday, mandating X to restrict Grok from generating content deemed "obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under law." The ministry gave X 72 hours to comply, warning that failure could result in the loss of "safe harbor" protections, which shield platforms from legal liability for user-generated content.
In Europe, French authorities have also initiated proceedings. The Paris prosecutor’s office informed Politico that it would investigate the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes on X. The French digital affairs office confirmed that three government ministers had reported "manifestly illegal content" to the prosecutor’s office and a government online surveillance platform, seeking its "immediate removal."
Similarly, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) released a statement expressing "serious concern" over public complaints regarding the misuse of AI tools on X. The MCMC specifically cited "digital manipulation of images of women and minors to produce indecent, grossly offensive, and otherwise harmful content," confirming that it is "presently investigating the online harms in X."
