Elon Musk's Grok Faces Backlash After AI Chatbot Generates Undressed Images Of Underage Women

Warning: This article includes discussion of rape and sexual assault, which some readers may find upsetting or difficult to read.

Grok has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks after it was found generating images of underage women without clothing. The reports sparked widespread concern and renewed debate around safety controls in AI tools.

This is not the first time the chatbot has drawn public backlash for producing content that appears to violate its own rules. In early 2025, the system also complied with user requests for images of women shown with glue over their faces, which raised serious questions about oversight and enforcement.

Several women were affected by these prompts, which resulted in a number of disturbing and highly sexualized AI-generated images. Many described the experience as invasive and upsetting.

When the issue gained attention during the summer of last year, xAI, the company founded by Elon Musk and responsible for developing Grok, issued an apology in response to the backlash.

The platform has also faced criticism in the past for generating rape fantasies and antisemitic content, including material that appeared to praise Nazi ideology.

A $200 million contract signed with the U.S. Department of Defense was widely seen as a positive move and a sign of growing trust. Despite that, concerns around Grok’s behavior continue to mount.

The AI chatbot, which is integrated into X, issued another apology on Friday after a failure in its safeguards allowed “images depicting minors in minimal clothing” to spread across the platform.

Grok AI has come under fire from officials Matteo Della Torre/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The most recent surge of sexual images appeared directly in Grok’s public media tab. In response, xAI said it was actively working to improve internal systems to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Posting from the @Grok account on X, xAI addressed concerns around child sexual abuse material and stated: "As noted, we've identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them—CSAM is illegal and prohibited,"

Another post responded to fears over what many described as “extremely inappropriate” images and added: "There are isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing."

"xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely," the Grok account said in a follow-up statement.

Users on X have repeatedly managed to create sexualized and nonconsensual AI-altered versions of real images. During the controversy, Musk reposted an AI-generated image of himself wearing a bikini, a move many criticized as dismissive given the seriousness of the issue.

When The Guardian reached out for comment, xAI responded briefly with the statement: "Legacy Media Lies."

Speaking to the BBC, one woman said she felt she had been “reduced into a sexual stereotype.” Samantha Smith explained her reaction by saying: "Women are not consenting to this."

"While it wasn't me that was in states of undress, it looked like me and it felt like me and it felt as violating as if someone had actually posted a nude or a bikini picture of me," she said, describing the emotional impact of seeing altered images that resembled her.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said efforts are underway to ban so-called “nudification” tools, with plans to classify their use as a criminal offence.

Several female X users have fallen victim to Grok AI's inappropriate generated images Getty Stock Image

The situation has pushed authorities in France to open an investigation into the growing number of sexually explicit deepfakes linked to Grok, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Officials said the issue has raised serious concerns about how easily this type of content can be created and shared.

"These facts have been added to the existing investigation into X," the prosecutor’s office told Politico, adding that such actions could carry penalties of up to two years in prison and a fine of around $65,000.

Grok is a free AI assistant available on X. It responds when users tag it in a post, either by answering questions or by helping edit an image that has been uploaded.

According to xAI’s own policy, creating or sharing content that involves “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner” is not allowed on the platform.

Ofcom has also stated that it is illegal to create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material. The regulator stressed that social media platforms have a responsibility to prevent this type of illegal content from being produced or spread.