Elon Musk’s Grok is under fire in India after its viral “bikini” trend.
On January 2, India’s IT ministry issued a 72-hour ultimatum to X over its artificial intelligence chatbot generating “obscene” content — specifically, sexualized or manipulated images of women and, in some cases, minors.
Indian authorities have asked X to enforce the required AI guardrails and submit a detailed “Action Taken Report” within the stipulated time frame. Otherwise, X risks losing the safe-harbor protections it enjoys under Indian law, which afford social media platforms immunity from legal action over user-generated content.
The deadline ends today. There is no update yet on whether X responded to Indian authorities.
Last week, Reuters reported that X was flooded with sexualized photos of women and minors created using Grok. Users ran publicly available images through Grok, prompting it to “put her into a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”
The French and Malaysian governments, too, have launched probes into the issue.
On January 1, Grok had posted an apology for generating and sharing “an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt.”
On January 4, Musk, as well as X’s official safety team, issued statements saying users are liable for generating illegal content, including child sexual abuse material. They said X will take action by “removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”
The perils of nonconsensual and sexually explicit imagery are not limited to one chatbot or platform, but are a hard-to-contain broader phenomenon. A 2025 research study of 29 AI-powered “undressing apps” showed that the apps are conduits for systemic gender-based violence, “which objectifies women and commodifies their exploitation.”
In May 2025, the U.S. signed the Take It Down Act, criminalizing the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images and AI-generated deepfakes. The U.K. is weighing penalties and an outright ban on nudification apps. China has proposed AI watermarking to counter the menace. In Australia, the government commissioner for online safety has urged schools to ensure all incidents are reported to the police as sex crimes against children. But it’s not quite enough.
“Efforts to tackle the issue through regulation are underway in many jurisdictions, but so far, progress has been uneven,” futurist and author Bernard Marr noted in an August 2025 blog post.