Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X

Jan 2 (Reuters) – Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this.  Screenshots shared by users on X showed Grok's public media tab filled with images that users said had been altered when they uploaded photos and prompted the bot to alter them. "There are isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing," Grok said in a post on X. "xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely." "As noted, we've identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them — CSAM is illegal and prohibited," Grok said, referring to Child Sexual Abuse Material. Grok gave no further details.  When contacted by Reuters for comment by email, xAI replied with the message "Legacy Media Lies".  In a separate reply to a user on X on Thursday, Grok said most cases could be prevented through advanced filters and monitoring although it said "no system is 100% foolproof," adding that xAI was prioritising improvements and reviewing details shared by users.  Ministers in France have reported sexually explicit content generated by Grok to prosecutors, saying in a statement on Friday the "sexual and sexist" content was "manifestly illegal". The ministers said they had also reported the content to French media regulator Arcom for checks on whether it complied with the European Union's Digital Services Act. India's IT ministry, meanwhile, said in a letter to X's India unit that the platform failed to prevent misuse of Grok to generate and circulate obscene and sexually explicit content of women. It ordered X to submit an action-taken report within three days. In a reply on X to a user, Grok said it complies with laws like India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act and advises users against violations.  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Federal Trade Commission declined to comment. (Reporting by Arnav Mishra and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Bipasha Dey; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Chizu Nomiyama )

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