Ofcom raises concerns with Musk’s X over AI ‘creating sexualised child images’

Ofcom has made “urgent contact” with Elon Musk’s social media platform X after serious concerns that AI is being used to create sexualised images of people, including children.

Users of X, formerly Twitter, appear to have prompted Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s xAI, to generate undressed images of people.

A post on the Grok X account said that there have been “isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing”, and added: “xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely.”

Ofcom says it has contacted X and xAI to understand what steps have been taken to address this, but has not launched an investigation.

A spokesperson for the regulator said: “Tackling illegal online harm and protecting children remain urgent priorities for Ofcom.

“We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children.

“We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK.

“Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation.”

Under the Online Safety Act in the UK, social media firms must prevent and remove child sexual abuse material when they become aware of it.

After a request for comment, xAI replied with an automatically-generated email saying “legacy media lies”.

Child sexual abuse imagery

Internet Watch Foundation chief executive Kerry Smith said: “The IWF has received a number of reports from the public relating to suspected child sexual abuse imagery on X generated by the AI chatbot Grok.

“We are still working through these reports but, so far, we have not seen any imagery which crosses the legal threshold for being considered child sexual abuse in the UK.”

She urged the Government to require AI firms to build safety measures into their products to prevent harmful content.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are legislating to ban nudification tools in all their forms, including the use of AI models for this purpose.

“Intimate image abuse is a devastating crime which disproportionately affects women and girls.

“Under this new criminal offence, any individuals or companies who design or supply these nudification tools will face a prison sentence and substantial fines.”