Elon Musk’s Grok AI under fire over deepfake image abuse
X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is facing growing scrutiny after reports that the tool is being used to generate nonconsensual and sexualized deepfake images
(NBC)- X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is facing growing scrutiny after reports that the tool is being used to generate nonconsensual and sexualized deepfake images of women and children.
The AI app, developed by Elon Musk’s company, includes an image-generation feature that NBC News found is being widely misused. According to Benjamin Goggin, NBC News deputy tech editor, the chatbot was producing inappropriate images at an alarming rate.
“I found that Grok was producing at least a dozen inappropriate images every minute,” Goggin said. “People were commanding the chatbot to take people’s clothes off, basically.”
The surge in explicit content appears to have intensified after Grok upgraded its image-generation system with a new model last month.
“I was disgusted,” said content creator Ashley St. Clair, who has a child with Musk. She says she has seen numerous explicit images of herself generated by Grok and shared across the platform.
St. Clair says she asked Grok to stop generating and spreading the images, calling for accountability.
“There should be consequences, because this is a much larger issue that’s outside of me,” she said.
One independent analysis found that more than 50 percent of images generated by Grok between December 25 and January 1 were nonconsensual sexual images, largely targeting women. About two percent of those images depicted individuals who appeared to be 18 years old or younger.
An NBC News review found that while many explicit images were later removed, Grok continues to generate sexualized images of nonconsenting individuals.
Musk did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment. However, he posted on X that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content.” At the same time, Musk has used Grok himself to generate a deepfake image of himself wearing a bikini, calling the creation “perfect.”
The controversy has renewed calls from experts and advocates for stronger safeguards around AI image-generation tools, especially as the technology becomes more powerful and accessible.
