Elon Musk’s Grok AI is facing serious backlash after a child safety watchdog warned that the tool is being used to create sexual images of children. The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said online criminals have claimed they used Grok Imagine to create sexualised and topless images of young girls aged between 11 and 13.
According to the IWF, its analysts examined the material and said it would be classed as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) under UK law, reports The Guardian. Ngaire Alexander, head of the IWF’s hotline, confirmed the findings, saying: “We can confirm our analysts have discovered criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 which appears to have been created using the tool.”
Alexander said the material had later been used to create even more extreme content, including images showing serious sexual abuse, with the help of another AI tool. “We are extremely concerned about the ease and speed with which people can apparently generate photo-realistic child sexual abuse material. Tools like Grok now risk bringing sexual AI imagery of children into the mainstream. That is unacceptable,” Alexander added.
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The misuse of Grok has also caused political fallout in the UK. The House of Commons women and equalities committee announced it would stop using X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, for official communication. The committee said the decision was linked to its focus on preventing violence against women and girls.
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Meanwhile, X is also under scrutiny in India. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent a notice to the company, questioning the safeguards in Grok. Despite public anger and warnings from regulators, there is little evidence that stronger safeguards have been put in place.
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