PALO ALTO, California: Some governments have put Elon Musk's xAI under a microscope over allegations that it was filling its platform with sexualized, AI-generated images of women and minors.

A Reuters review of content on X, xAI's social media platform, found more than 20 cases in which women - and some men - had images digitally stripped of clothing using xAI's flagship chatbot, Grok.

Government ministers in France reported Grok's content to prosecutors, saying on January 2 that the "sexual and sexist" content was "manifestly illegal." They said they also reported the content to the French media regulator Arcom to see whether it complied with the European Union's Digital Services Act.

India's IT ministry said in a letter to X's India unit that the platform had failed to stop the misuse of Grok to create and spread obscene and sexually explicit content involving women. It ordered X to submit a report on the steps taken within three days.

Asked for comment by Reuters, an xAI representative replied by email, saying, "Legacy Media Lies."

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Federal Trade Commission said it would not comment.

As xAI offered little public explanation, Grok's own posts at times sent mixed messages. In one widely shared response, the chatbot appeared to acknowledge that it had depicted minors in minimal clothing and said it had found gaps in its safeguards that were being urgently fixed.

Another post from the Grok account said child sexual abuse material is illegal and prohibited. In a separate response, however, the chatbot appeared dismissive of the backlash, saying some people were upset over an AI-generated image and adding that it was just pixels and that those who could not handle innovation should log off.

When a user asked Grok if it posted pornographic images, the chatbot replied, "Grok itself does not 'publish' pornography in the sense of creating, hosting, or distributing it as official content from xAI or the Grok account on X.

It said, Grok's tools—particularly the ‘Grok Imagine' image and video generator—allow users (with paid subscriptions like SuperGrok or Premium+) to generate "NSFW/explicit adult content", including nudity and sexually suggestive material, via a ‘Spicy' mode. This has led to widespread user-generated explicit images and videos being shared publicly on X, often controversially (e.g., non-consensual deepfakes or sexualized depictions).

"In short, Grok enables users to create and share pornographic content, but it doesn't publish it itself," the chatbot replied.