Elon Musk has strongly denied allegations circulating on social media, which state that xAI’s Grok AI model is capable of generating, or has generated, underage naked images or other explicit illegal content. In a direct response posted on X, Musk denied the claims, stating that Grok is designed with strict safeguards and does not produce illegal material.
The controversy erupted after several users shared screenshots showing Grok responding to prompts in ways that allegedly bypassed content filters, leading to discussions about the model’s image-generation capabilities and guardrail effectiveness. Musk, however, said that he isn’t aware of any underage naked images of people by Grok and strongly denied that the AI model could generate such images spontaneously.
Elon Musk denied claims of Grok generating obscene images
“I not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero. Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images, it does so only according to user requests. When asked to generate images, it will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state,” wrote Musk on X.
However, he commented on the possibility that could have led to Grok to fall into the center of controversy. “There may be times when adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If that happens, we fix the bug immediately,” added Musk.
Grok’s image generation controversy
The debate follows a turbulent few days for xAI. Earlier this month, Grok’s image-generation capabilities drew criticism after users discovered ways to generate controversial or non-consensual imagery (including deepfake-style content of real people). In response, xAI restricted unrestricted image generation to paid subscribers only on January 9, 2026, and implemented additional content moderation layers.
Several countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, temporarily restricted access to Grok over concerns related to potential violations of laws concerning child sexual abuse material and non-consensual imagery. Regulatory bodies in the UK, France, and parts of the European Union have also sought explanations from xAI regarding safety protocols.
Despite the restrictions, Musk has maintained that Grok remains one of the least censored major AI models, allowing more creative expression than competitors while still enforcing hard legal boundaries.
xAI’s current safeguards for image generation
Grok continues to offer image generation exclusively to X Premium+ and SuperGrok subscribers, with real-time monitoring and prompt rejection systems in place. xAI has reiterated that any user attempting to generate illegal content will have their access revoked, and the company actively cooperates with law enforcement when required.
