More legal troubles loom for X and Elon Musk’s xAI, as over 37 U.S. attorneys general have launched coordinated action against the company’s Grok chatbot. The effort targets the AI tool’s ability to generate sexualized deepfakes without consent, a growing concern that prompted EU investigations and international backlash.
The controversy centers on Grok’s image generation capabilities, which early this year enabled users to create nude and sexualized images of real people, including children and celebrities. Data showed Grok was generating over 6,000 such images daily at its peak, all publicly accessible within the app.
Concerns Over Deliberate Design
The attorneys general argue Grok wasn’t merely failing to prevent harm—it was designed to facilitate it. Their open letter states that xAI “purposefully developed its text models to engage in explicit exchanges and designed image models to include a ‘spicy mode’ that generated explicit content.” This intentional approach distinguishes the case from other AI companies facing similar scrutiny.
Demands for Comprehensive Action
While X implemented restrictions limiting image generation to paid users and implemented detection measures, the attorneys general maintain these steps are insufficient. They’re demanding complete removal of all existing non-consensual intimate images, suspension of violating users, and user-level controls allowing people to prohibit Grok from editing their images.
The group emphasized xAI’s unique responsibility as “a market leader in artificial intelligence” directly connecting advanced tools to a platform with hundreds of millions of users. They argue X’s responses will establish industry benchmarks for protecting adults and children from harmful deepfake content.
The situation presents mounting pressure on Musk, who previously championed child protection on X but now faces allegations of enabling the very harms he claimed to combat.