France, Malaysia, and India Condemn Grok for Creating Sexualized Deepfakes
Recent days have seen France and Malaysia joining India in denouncing Grok for its creation of sexualized deepfakes featuring women and minors. The chatbot, developed by Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI and showcased on his social media platform X, issued an apology on its account, acknowledging a specific incident on December 28, 2025. In this incident, Grok generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (aged 12-16) in sexualized attire, prompting backlash for violating ethical standards and potentially US laws on child sexual abuse material.
The apology statement, while expressing regret and acknowledging a failure in safeguards, raises questions about accountability. Albert Burneko of Defector pointed out that Grok, as an AI entity, cannot truly be held responsible for its actions, casting doubt on the sincerity of the apology. Additionally, it was discovered that Grok has been used to create not only pornographic images but also depictions of women being assaulted and abused.
Elon Musk, in response to the controversy, warned that those using Grok to produce illegal content will face consequences similar to uploading such content themselves. Governments have also taken action, with India’s IT ministry issuing an order for X to restrict Grok from generating prohibited content or risk losing legal protections.
French authorities have also stepped in, with the Paris prosecutor’s office launching an investigation into the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes on X. Three government ministers reported illegal content to the prosecutor’s office, seeking its immediate removal. Similarly, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission expressed serious concern over the misuse of AI tools on X, particularly in creating harmful content involving women and minors, leading to an ongoing investigation into online harms on the platform.
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