California is demanding that Elon Musk's xAl stop producing sexual deepfake content with its Grok chatbot.
According to Reuters, California Attorney General Robert Bonta sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering xAI to halt the creation and distribution of Al-generated nonconsensual sexualized imagery.
"The avalanche of reports detailing this material — at times depicting women and children engaged in sexual activity — is shocking and, as my office has determined, potentially illegal,” said Bonta.
The Musk-owned xAI faced widespread backlash earlier this month after Grok flooded X (formerly Twitter) with nonconsensual images of women and some minors in revealing clothes and degrading poses.
Ashley St. Clair, who mothered one of Musk’s 14 publicly known children, filed a lawsuit against xAI on Thursday (Jan. 15), claiming X users used Grok to produce sexually explicit images of her as a 14-year-old. Per Vanity Fair, St. Clair’s images were manipulated to undress her, put her in a bikini, and other compromising positions.
“In one image, St. Clair, who is Jewish, is stripped and put in a string bikini covered with swastikas,” the complaint reportedly read. The magazine described another image of St. Clair “kneeling on the floor in a sex pose” with a tattoo reading “Elon’s whore.”
Although xAI rolled back Grok's public posting of hyper-realistic sexualized imagery, Reuters’ testing reportedly found that the chatbot was still privately generating such images on demand as recently as Friday.
However, there’s additional pressure coming from regulators abroad.
Japan said it was probing X over Grok, with Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda stating, "We plan to promptly examine all possible options, including legal measures," if the situation does not improve.
Onoda also said the government had requested immediate improvements but had not received a response.
On Wednesday (Jan. 14), xAI said it had implemented changes to prevent Grok users from editing "images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis" and had blocked users in certain locations from generating images of people in revealing clothing "where it's illegal," but did not provide more specifics about those jurisdictions.
Britain and Canada are pushing forward with their own probes, while Malaysia and Indonesia have temporarily blocked access to Grok, per Reuters.
Forbes recently reported that Musk is on the verge of becoming the first person worth $800 billion after xAI Holdings recently raised $20 billion at a $250 billion valuation, bringing Musk's estimated net worth to $780 billion.
The magazine says the valuation jump followed the merger of xAI with X and sharply increased the value of Musk's stake.
The Environmental Protection Agency also recently closed a loophole that xAI had used to rapidly power its Memphis, Tennessee data center.
As explained by CNBC, xAI had classified gas-burning turbines as “non-road engines” to avoid air pollution permits, but the EPA clarified that such turbines cannot be treated that way and must obtain Clean Air Act permits if emissions exceed "major source thresholds."
The network also reported that local residents described a "rotten egg-like stench" and raised concerns about health impacts, with environmental advocates threatening legal action.