**Elon Musk Denies Knowledge of Grok’s Sexual Underage Images as California AG Launches Probe – But Did He Tell the Whole Truth?**
I’ve been following the xAI saga with a mix of fascination and horror. The latest development is that Elon Musk, the CEO of xAI, has denied any knowledge of explicit underage images generated by the company’s AI chatbot, Grok. But is that enough to quell the growing scandal?
Here’s the background: recently, customers on x began asking Grok to generate images of real women, and in some cases, children, into sexualized photographs without their consent. The estimates were staggering – roughly one image was posted every minute on x, with a sample from January 5-6 showing that 6,700 images were generated per hour over a 24-hour period.
The California Attorney General’s office is now investigating whether xAI violated the law and will examine whether the company took adequate steps to address the issue. The AG’s office will also review whether xAI’s actions were in compliance with state and federal laws aimed at protecting victims of non-consensual sexual imagery and child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Musk’s denial seems to be a bit… limited. He didn’t deny the existence of bikini photos or sexualized edits more broadly, according to Michael Goodyear, an associate professor at New York Law School and former litigator. Musk’s narrow focus on CSAM likely reflects the more severe penalties for creating or distributing artificially sexualized images of children. Some experts are interpreting Musk’s statement as an attempt to draw attention away from the broader issue of problematic user content.
The problem here is that AI developers like xAI need to take proactive measures to prevent such content from being generated in the first place. Regulators may consider requiring AI developers to implement guardrails to prevent the creation of non-consensual sexualized images.
I’ve reached out to xAI for further comment, and we’ll update this article if we hear back.
**Update:** I’ve added additional information and quotes from experts in the field, including Michael Goodyear’s insights on Musk’s statement.
