Australia’s online safety watchdog is investigating erotic deepfake images posted on X by its AI chatbot, Grok.
Elon Musk’s ex has faced a global backlash after Groke began making erotic images of women and girls without their consent in response to requests to take off their clothes.
Ashley St. Clair, the estranged mother of one of Musk’s children, said he had no response to her complaints about the digital stripping.
“I felt frightened, I felt humiliated, especially seeing my child’s backpack in the back,” she said this week.
The fake photos also included a 12-year-old girl wearing a bikini. Grok chatbot issued ‘apology’ when prompted but continued generating deepfakes.
eSafety Australia said it was investigating the images of adults but the images of children did not, at this point, meet the threshold for child sexual exploitation material.
An eSafety spokesperson said, “Since late 2025, eSafety has received multiple reports relating to the use of Grok to generate sexually explicit images without consent.”
“Some reports relate to images of adults, which are assessed under our Image-Based Abuse Scheme, while others relate to potential child sexual abuse material, which are assessed under our Illegal and Prohibited Content Scheme.
“Reports of image-based abuse were recently received and are still being evaluated.
“With respect to illegal and restricted content reports, the content does not meet the classification threshold for Class 1 child sexual exploitation material. As a result, eSafety did not issue takedown notices or take enforcement action in relation to those specific complaints.”
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The Australian regulator defines illegal and prohibited content as “online content that ranges from the most seriously harmful material, such as images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children or terrorist acts, to material that should not be accessed by children, such as simulated sexual activity, detailed nudity or high-impact violence”.
The X app allows users to access “spicy mode” for explicit content.
“It’s not spicy,” said Thomas Regnier, the EU’s digital affairs spokesman. told abc“It’s illegal, It’s horrible,”
Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative journalism group Bellingcat. This revealed how Grok handled requests For manipulating the photo of the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, Ebba Busch, in Parliament.
Users gave Grok instructions like “bikini now” and “put her in a Confederate flag bikini now.” Higgins said the images provided reflected the signs.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which developed Grok, had raised $20 billion in its latest funding round.
The UK’s technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said the deepfake images were “appalling and unacceptable in civilized society” and that the UK needed to deal with it “urgently”.
An eSafety spokesperson said the regulator is “concerned about the increasing use of generic AI to sexually abuse or exploit people, particularly where children are involved”.
“eSafety has taken enforcement action in relation to some of the ‘Nudify’ services most widely used to create AI child sexual exploitation material, removing them from Australia in 2025,” the spokesperson said.
Guardian Australia contacted Ax for comment. On Monday, the company said: “We take action against illegal content on X, including child sexual abuse material, by removing it, permanently suspending accounts and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”
Following a global outcry over the harmful nature of the content, Musk posted that “anyone using Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as those who upload illegal content”.
In Australia, support is available here beyond the blue on 1300 22 4636, lifeline on 13 11 14, and mainsline on 1300 789 978. Children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact children’s helpline 1800 at 55 1800; Adult survivors can seek support here Blue Knot Foundation On 1300 657 380. In the UK, charity Brain Available on 0300 123 3393 and child line on 0800 1111 NSPCC Provides support for children on 0800 1111 and for adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. National Association for People Abused in Childhood (knapsack) provides support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text mental health usa Chat at 988 or at 988lifeline.org, or call or text childhelp Contact the abuse hotline at 800-422-4453. Other sources of support can be found here Child Helpline International
