By Harinder Mahil

We are finding out how unethical AI platforms are when they are letting people make sexual images of children on Twitter/X using Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok. 

There are numerous stories about Grok being used to abuse women by manipulating photos of them to remove their clothes and put them in sexual positions. Such images cause immense harm. They harass and humiliate people depicted and act to make social media even more unwelcome place than it already is.

Two weeks ago, Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries in the world to block Grok AI, citing concerns over non-consensual deepfake sexual images. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission noted “repeated misuse” of the tool to generate obscene, sexually explicit and non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors. The regulator issued notices to X and xAI demanding stronger safeguards.

Recently, Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, became a victim of sexual deepfakes when AI-generated images depicting her in a bikini went viral on the platform.

Although X claims to have cracked down on misuse, the users continue to post highly sexualized images of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool.

The British newspaper The Guardian reported on January 16, 2026 that it was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed women. The paper stated that it was also “possible to post this adult content on the X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.”.

Apparently, the Canadian government has launched an investigation into Grok AI — and penalties are on the table. But if we want to stop GrokAI before more harm is done, we need to take swift action.

Although the behaviour of the users who use the platform to make sexualized images of minors and women is disgusting, governments around the world should hold accountable the company that makes it possible.

After the scandal broke, Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence stated that he would not ban X as a platform. Elon musk responded to the Minister’s statement with heart emojis beside a Canadian flag. That tells me that Musk is publicly congratulating the Canadian government for letting him get away with it.

Artificial Intelligence has come a long way in the last few years and is developing exponentially. AI corporations are pouring billions of dollars into research to create what they call AGI (artificial general intelligence) or ASI (artificial superintelligence), which will make its own decisions without being prompted by a human being. This is extremely scary and can be dangerous.

We have a choice: to stand up for the safety of children and women or to protect the profits of billionaires. Ultimately, protection of children and women is protection of our society from those who may do things that we cannot even imagine.

Our government must take action and strictly regulate AI platforms. Otherwise, we will face situations that we cannot even imagine.

Harinder Mahil is a human rights activist and is secretary of Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation.