UK media regulator Ofcom has made “urgent contact” with xAI, the artificial intelligence business owned by Elon Musk, following reports that its Grok chatbot can be used to generate sexualised images of children and non-consensual explicit images of women.
The intervention follows widespread concern over Grok’s image-generation capabilities on X, where users have posted examples of the AI being prompted to digitally “undress” women or place them into sexualised scenarios without consent.
Ofcom confirmed it is investigating whether the use of Grok breaches the UK’s Online Safety Act, which makes it illegal to create or share intimate or sexually explicit images, including AI-generated “deepfakes”, without a person’s consent.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said the regulator is also examining allegations that Grok has been producing “undressed images” of individuals, adding that technology companies are legally required to take appropriate steps to prevent UK users from encountering illegal content and to remove such material swiftly once flagged.
X has not responded publicly to Ofcom’s request for clarification. However, over the weekend the platform issued a warning to users not to use Grok to generate illegal material, including child sexual abuse imagery. Musk also posted on X that anyone prompting Grok to create illegal content would “suffer the same consequences” as if they had uploaded such content themselves.
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