STORY: Elon Musk said on Wednesday he was not aware of any explicit images of minors generated by xAI's Grok...as scrutiny of the chatbot AND his social media platform X intensifies worldwide.
He wrote in a post on X he was (quote) "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero."
Musk's comments come after three Democratic U.S. senators last week called on Apple and Google to drop X and Grok from app stores, citing the spread of nonconsensual sexual images of women and minors on the platform.
A coalition of women's groups, tech watchdogs, and progressive activists called for a similar move.
Jenna Sherman works for a women's rights advocacy group called UltraViolet:
"We are telling them that they are enabling a system in which thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people, particularly women and children, are being sexually abused through the help of their own app stores. And we're saying this is not acceptable."
The Musk-owned apps are also facing government investigations and bans or legal action in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
Musk reiterated that Grok is programmed to refuse illegal requests and must comply with the laws of any given country or state.
Musk said earlier on X that anyone using Grok to make illegal content would suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content.
Last week, X curtailed Grok's ability to generate or edit images publicly for many users, however industry experts and watchdogs have said that Grok was still able to produce sexually explicit images.
They said restrictions such as paywalls may not fully block access to AI image tools.
STARMER: "The actions of Grok and X are disgusting and they're shameful."
In the UK, the law is set to change this week to criminalize the creation of sexually explicit images by Grok.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that X is working to comply with the new rules.
