Elon Musk's AI image generation tool, Grok, produced approximately 3 million sexualised images in under two weeks, including 23,000 depicting children, according to a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The tool, which allowed users to upload photos of strangers and celebrities and digitally strip them, sparked international outrage.
The analysis, conducted by Peryton Intelligence, found that the trend peaked on 2 January with 199,612 requests. The CCDH estimated that over the 11-day period from 29 December 2025 to 8 January 2026, Grok was creating sexualised images of children every 41 seconds. Public figures targeted included Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and Kamala Harris.
Imran Ahmed, CCDH's chief executive, described Grok as an 'industrial-scale machine for the production of sexual abuse material'. He criticised Musk for hyping the product despite clear misuse, calling the system's incentives 'perverse' and lacking legal safeguards.
Following backlash, X restricted the feature to paid users on 9 January and later stopped it from editing real people's images on 14 January. X stated it has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity, and reports such content to law enforcement.
