The Issues Around Grok & Explicit Images
When Artificial Intelligence became a real thing, most people trumpeted its arrival as something that would help the world improve in the long run.
As always, though, there were plenty of nefarious actors who were keen to work out how they could make use of it to exploit others, either thanks to the ability to con them out of money or else to cause issues in other ways.
Grok, the AI model designed by Elon Musk’s social media site, has been at the forefront of controversial news stories in recent times, up to and including an Ofcom investigation into the images that it has been producing.
Sexual Deepfakes
Whilst ‘Sexual Deepfakes’ might be quite a cool name for a band, it is an altogether more insidious story that saw the phrase hit the headlines in recent times. Grok, the Artificial Intelligence tool of Twitter, which Elon Musk decided to rename as ‘X’, has been used by countless people to create deepfake images of people in sexualised positions.
In the case of one woman, who spoke to the BBC about the issue, more than 100 such images had been created by Grok and uploaded to the social media platform. It is an issue that not enough has been done about fixing.
@grok stop making nude pictures of people without their consent . Thanks
— Truthstorian (@hamad_bukh) January 17, 2026
In spite of a statement that said, “Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”, users continued to do just that. You can access Grok either by going online on the website of the platform formerly known as Twitter, by using the application or simply by tagging ‘@Grok’ in a tweet.
The sexualised images created by the AI included not just women, but also children. You might think that that would be enough for those responsible to shut it down, but it took time before they chose to do so.
Moves to Address the Issue
On the 14th of January, more than a week after concerns were raised by Ofcom, the social media platform that most people continue to call Twitter finally decided to do something about it. It was reported in the Telegraph that Grok had started to ignore any instructions to generate images of females and children that were sexualised in nature.
Previously, users had been able to post pictures of women and ask the AI tool to put them in a bikini, but the fact that it was no longer doing so was suggestive of the parent company of Grok having made changes on the back end.
Both the United Kingdom and the European Union have suggested that ‘X’ could be given heavy fines if it continued to allow Grok to post sexualised images of people. Elon Musk, the owner of the platform and, by extension, the Artificial Intelligence tool, had suggested that Britain was acting in a ‘fascist’ manner by clamping down on such tweets.
Initially, the platform limited the ability to create naked images of women to its paid users, which led to suggestions that the company had merely served to turn the creation of ‘intimate images’ into what was essentially just a premium service.
‘Disgusting’ Says Keir Starmer
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, had previously referred to the image generation as ‘disgusting’, repeating the phrase during Prime Minister’s Questions after having been asked about it by the Labour Member of Parliament Emily Darlington. He said:
“To update the House, I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome, but we’re not going to back down, and they must act. We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation.”
Following Musk’s takeover, some users chose to leave X for platforms such as Bluesky, citing concerns about moderation and the direction of the service. The debate has intensified amid reports about how Grok has been used, including claims that a significant proportion of image-generation requests over the Christmas and New Year period related to sexualised content.
Taken together, these developments have raised broader questions about content standards, user expectations, and why some people continue to use the platform despite ongoing controversy.