Elon Musk denies claims Grok AI generates illegal images of minors

Elon Musk has firmly dismissed allegations that Grok, his artificial intelligence system, generates illegal images of minors. This comes as several nations, including Indonesia and Malaysia, have taken steps to restrict access to Grok due to rising worries about inappropriate content. In a post on X, Musk stated that he was "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok" and emphasized that there are "literally zero" such cases. He clarified that Grok is designed to create images solely based on user prompts and is programmed to reject any requests that breach legal boundaries. Musk acknowledged that while some attempts to misuse the system might occasionally yield unforeseen results, these are treated as bugs and rectified swiftly. Despite Musk's reassurances, Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs announced a temporary ban on Grok, citing the potential for AI-generated pornographic content as a significant concern. The ministry's goal is to safeguard women, children, and the broader community. They have requested immediate clarification from X regarding the issue. Communications Minister Meutya Hafid highlighted the government's stance against non-consensual deepfake sexual content, viewing it as a severe infringement on human rights and personal dignity. Following Indonesia's lead, Malaysia also imposed restrictions on Grok. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated it would limit access until adequate protections are established. Notices were sent to X Corp. and xAI LLC, but officials indicated that the responses did not sufficiently address the risks associated with the AI tool. These regulatory actions come on the heels of xAI's recent decision to restrict Grok's image-generation capabilities on X after facing backlash for producing inappropriate images of women and children. Under the new policies, only paying subscribers will have the ability to create and modify images, whereas the feature was previously available to all users for free, albeit with daily limits. Regulators in the UK and elsewhere have criticized this subscription model, arguing that the standalone Grok app continues to allow unrestricted image generation without a subscription, highlighting gaps in oversight.