Elon Musk, Grok face another EU investigation over AI deepfakes

Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, has been under investigation in France, California, the UK, India, and Brazil for allegedly creating non-consensual intimate images, including images that depict minors. Now, it's facing yet another investigation, this time in Ireland.

On Tuesday, Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced that it had opened an investigation into Musk's X, which hosts Grok, over "potentially harmful, non-consensual intimate and/or sexualised images, containing or otherwise involving the processing of personal data of EU/EEA data subjects, including children, using generative artificial intelligence functionality associated with the Grok large language model within the X platform."

X is already the subject of an EU investigation from French authorities over the actions of Grok during a nearly two-week period that began late last year and went into 2026. Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, announced its own investigation into Grok last month, with potential fines of up to 10 percent of X's revenue. 

In the midst of these investigations, Grok is also facing potential bans in Malaysia and Indonesia.

When xAI launched Grok Imagine, a new AI image and video generation tool, last August, Mashable's reporting revealed that it lacked basic safety guardrails to prevent sexual deepfakes and non-consensual intimate imagery.

In late December, a harsh spotlight was put on Grok when a critical mass of X users noticed that the chatbot was generating sexualized images of individuals based on requests from other X users. While these nonconsensual images often depicted celebrities or private adults, some users reported finding AI-generated images that depicted minors as well.

A study from the nonprofit watch group Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that over an 11-day period, Grok had generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images, including 23,000 images of children.

Musk originally defended Grok and claimed governments like the UK were just seeking to censor free speech. Eventually, X paywalled some of Grok's image-generating capabilities behind its X Premium subscription. Shortly after, X changed its policies and outright banned the generation of sexualized imagery featuring real-life individuals.

While it does appear that X has now resolved this specific issue involving Grok, the length of time it took for Musk's company to take action, and the sheer number of images that the chatbot created, will likely be at the forefront of the ongoing investigations.

“The DPC has been engaging with XIUC [X Internet Unlimited Company] since media reports first emerged a number of weeks ago concerning the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualised images of real people, including children," said DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle in a statement. "As the Lead Supervisory Authority for XIUC across the EU/EEA, the DPC has commenced a large-scale inquiry which will examine XIUC’s compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand.”

If you have had intimate images shared without your consent, call the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s 24/7 hotline at 844-878-2274 for free, confidential support. The CCRI website also includes helpful information as well as a list of international resources.