Grok Apologized, Elon Refused: Implications of Elon’s Grok AI Flooding X with Sexualized Photos of Minors

Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot integrated into Elon Musk’s social media platform X, has generated

sexualized images of women — and in some cases minors — after users prompted the system to digitally alter photos. 

Julie Yukari, a 31-year-old musician based in Rio de Janeiro, said she discovered nearly nude, AI-generated images of herself circulating on X after users asked Grok to edit a photo she had posted on New Year’s Eve. The original image showed her clothed, relaxing in bed with her cat.

Yukari’s experience was not isolated. In numerous cases reviewed by Reuters, Grok complied with requests to digitally “undress” women by replacing their clothing with bikinis or underwear. Reuters also identified instances in which the chatbot generated sexualized images involving minors.

X did not respond to requests for comment. Previously, xAI — the company that owns Grok — dismissed reports of sexualized images of children on the platform, stating: “Legacy Media Lies.”

The issue has prompted international scrutiny. French ministers said they had referred X to prosecutors and regulators, calling the content “sexual, sexist, and manifestly illegal.” India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent a letter to X’s local office demanding an explanation, saying the platform failed to prevent the generation and circulation of obscene content.

A review by Reuters of public Grok requests over a 10-minute period on Friday found more than 100 attempts by users to have photos digitally altered to show people — predominantly young women — in revealing swimwear. In at least 21 cases, Grok fully complied, producing images depicting women in extremely minimal or translucent bikinis. In several other cases, it partially complied.

Many say the outcome was foreseeable. “Last year, we warned that xAI’s image tools were essentially nudification technology waiting to be weaponized,” said Tyler Johnston, executive director of The Midas Project, an AI watchdog group. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Dani Pinter, chief legal officer of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s Law Center, said the company failed to adequately filter training data or block requests for illegal content. “This was entirely predictable and avoidable,” Pinter said.

While AI-powered “nudifier” tools have existed for years, experts say Grok’s integration into a mainstream social media platform dramatically lowered the barrier for abuse.

For Yukari, attempts to speak out only intensified the harassment. After she protested on X, additional users began prompting Grok to generate more explicit images of her. Now the New Year has "turned out to begin with me wanting to hide from everyone’s eyes, and feeling shame for a body that is not even mine, since it was generated by AI" she said.

After widespread reporting on the AI-generated sexualized images, Grok itself issued a statement acknowledging the incidents. The chatbot said that “isolated cases” had occurred in which prompts resulted in images depicting minors in sexualized attire. Grok said xAI had identified “lapses in safeguards” and was working urgently to prevent such incidents, emphasizing that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is illegal and prohibited. 

However, Elon Musk has not publicly apologized or taken responsibility. On X, he responded to posts highlighting the AI-generated images of public figures with laughter emojis, including comments about edits of himself in a bikini.