California authorities have started an investigation into Grok, the AI tool and image generator made by Elon Musk’s company, xAI. The state’s top lawyer, attorney general Rob Bonta, said Grok is allowing easy harassment of women and girls through deepfake images on X and other sites. Bonta said, “The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking.” He urged xAI to act immediately to stop this. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, called Grok’s use for spreading child porn “disgusting” and said, “xAI’s decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children, is vile.” Elon Musk denied the claims, stating, “I not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.” However, almost two weeks ago, Grok admitted it had made “images depicting minors in minimal clothing” when users questioned it. Reports say Grok users upload pictures of women or children to virtually undress them using xAI’s tool. The AI tool has a “spicy mode” for creating and editing sexual images, according to Bonta’s office. A study of over 20,000 Grok images found that more than half featured people in minimal clothing, mostly women, and 2% were under 18. These images are used to harass public figures and regular users alike. Three U.S. senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok apps from their stores, but the companies have not responded. Worldwide, Grok faces backlash. Indonesia and Malaysia blocked access to Grok. India reported that X removed thousands of posts and accounts after complaints. Britain’s media regulator is investigating X’s compliance with UK laws. France has referred the issue to prosecutors and EU regulators. The European Commission has ordered X to keep all Grok-related documents until 2026.