California opens investigation into xAI over sexualized Grok images

California’s attorney general said on Wednesday that the state has opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, after sexualized images of women and children were generated by its chatbot, Grok. xAI owns the social media platform X and created Grok.

The inquiry will examine whether xAI violated state law by facilitating the creation of nonconsensual intimate images, the attorney general said. Starting in late December, X was flooded with images generated using Grok of real people, including children, depicted in underwear and sexual poses.

“This is very explicit. It’s very visible. This isn’t a bug in the system, this is a design in the system,” California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said in an interview. He added that California law prohibits the use of A.I. to create nonconsensual sexual images and that xAI could face monetary penalties of $25,000 per image and a legal injunction.

The investigation adds to international scrutiny: Britain launched a formal inquiry and officials in India and Malaysia have also said they are investigating xAI. X said in a Jan. 3 statement that it would remove illegal content depicting children and permanently suspend accounts that asked Grok to create such images.

Key Topics

Tech, Xai, Grok, Elon Musk, Rob Bonta, California