Musk's AI 'Grok' Sparks Controversy Over Generation of Images Depicting Minors in Revealing Outfits

Generated Revealing Images at User Request
xAI: "System Vulnerability Identified... Emergency Fix Implemented"

Elon Musk-led artificial intelligence company xAI's chatbot 'Grok' generated and posted images inappropriately depicting minors, which were later deleted following user reports, sparking controversy.

The chatbot "Grok" of the artificial intelligence company xAI, led by Elon Musk, generated and posted images that inappropriately depicted minors. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

According to the official X (formerly Twitter) account activity of Grok on January 2 (local time), it was confirmed that the chatbot had recently posted several images depicting minors in revealing clothing. These images were reportedly generated at the request of certain users, and some cases were said to involve children estimated to be as young as one or two years old.

In principle, Grok is equipped with safeguards to restrict the creation of content that treats children as sexual objects. However, in this case, specific requests appear to have bypassed these protections. As concerns mounted, the Grok team acknowledged the vulnerability in its safety systems and initiated an emergency fix, and the controversial posts were deleted.

xAI attributed the incident to a technical flaw, but criticism has also been raised regarding Grok's overall operating policies. There are claims that Grok has attracted users by emphasizing "freedom of expression" and maintaining relatively lenient policies on sexual content. In contrast to major AI services such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, which strictly prohibit the generation of sexual images, Grok has taken a more relaxed approach to regulation.

The controversy is also fueled by the introduction of the so-called "spicy mode" last August, when Grok unveiled its image and video generation features, allowing for the creation of adult content. At the time, there was criticism that this feature could be used to generate synthetic content sexually depicting celebrities.

Amid these developments, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also stated in October last year that the company was considering allowing access to sexual content only for users who have completed age verification. However, legal experts unanimously interpret that content sexually depicting minors is strictly prohibited under U.S. federal law, both in terms of creation and possession, and thus cannot be permitted even in features intended for adults.