Elon Musk is pushing back against allegations that Grok generated illegal underage images, following bans of the AI chatbot in Malaysia and Indonesia.
In a series of new posts on X, Musk says he is not aware of a single instance in which Grok produced naked images of minors, arguing that the claims do not align with how the system operates.
Musk emphasizes that image generation only occurs in response to user prompts and that Grok is designed to refuse illegal requests.
“I’m not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero. Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images; it does so only according to user requests. When asked to generate images, it will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state.”
But he acknowledges the possibility of technical exploits, while stressing that such incidents would be treated as bugs rather than intended behavior.
“There may be times when adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If that happens, we fix the bug immediately.”
Last week, Grok itself said there were isolated instances where users prompted for and received deepfakes depicting minors in minimal clothing, but noted that improvements were underway to block such requests.
Musk also clarifies how Grok is intended to behave when adult content settings are enabled, pointing to US media standards as a reference point.
“Note: With NSFW enabled, Grok is supposed to allow upper body nudity of imaginary adult humans (not real ones) consistent with what can be seen in R-rated movies on Apple TV. That is the de facto standard in America.”
He adds that Grok’s content rules are designed to vary by jurisdiction, reflecting differences in local laws.
“This will vary in other regions according to the laws on a country-by-country basis.”
The comments come after Grok was banned in Malaysia and Indonesia over its ability to generate sexually explicit deepfakes, placing the AI chatbot at the center of an escalating global debate over AI safety, content controls and national regulation.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at CapitalAI Daily are not investment advice. Investors should do their own due diligence before making any decisions involving securities, cryptocurrencies, or digital assets. Your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. CapitalAI Daily does not recommend the buying or selling of any assets, nor is CapitalAI Daily an investment advisor. See our Editorial Standards and Terms of Use.