Jan 14 (Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he was not aware of any ‘image of nude minors’ generated by the Grok chatbot from his company xAI, despite mounting criticism from authorities in several countries.
‘I have no knowledge of any image of nude minors generated by Grok. Literally zero,’ Musk said on his social network X.
The comment comes as xAI and X face requests from lawmakers and other groups urging Apple and Google to remove Grok from their app stores. The companies also face government investigations and bans or legal actions in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
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Musk reiterated that Grok is programmed to refuse illegal requests and must comply with the laws of any country or state.
‘Obviously, Grok does not generate images spontaneously; it does so only in response to user requests,’ Musk said.
Musk had previously on X said that anyone who uses Grok to create illegal content would suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content.
Last week, three Democratic US senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and its AI chatbot Grok from their app stores, citing the platform’s dissemination of non-consensual sexually explicit images of women and minors.
A coalition of women’s groups, technology watchdogs and progressive activists also calls on the major tech companies to take similar action.
Last week, X reduced Grok’s ability to generate or edit images publicly for many users; however, industry experts and regulators stated that the chatbot remains capable of producing sexually explicit images and that restrictions, such as paid access to certain features, may not fully block access to deeper AI image tools.
In the United Kingdom, the law is set to change this week to criminalize the creation of such images, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that X is working to comply with the new rules.
Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia have already blocked Grok’s access and are pursuing legal actions against X and Musk’s AI unit, xAI, alleging failures in preventing harmful content and protecting users.
