The European Commission has officially ordered Elon Musk’s X to retain all internal documents related to its AI chatbot Grok until at least the end of 2026 due to growing evidence and anger surrounding the use of Grok to generate sexualized and illegal AI-generated imagery.
The order comes after Sweden’s deputy prime minister was recently a victim of sexualized images generated by Grok. The British non-profit Internet Watch Foundation has also reported finding criminal AI-generated imagery of children (ages 11-13) that appeared to be created using Grok.
The service has been criticized by at least two European leaders. Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson called the images “sexualized violence” and “unacceptable”. Meanwhile, UK PM Keir Starmer labelled the situation “disgusting” and demanded urgent action from xAI.
According to European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, the order has been issued to prevent X from destroying internal documents while the bloc assesses compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The EC has not yet opened a new formal investigation, but it said it needs these records to determine if the company is doing enough to tackle illegal and harmful content.
The order specifically targets the documents related to Grok’s algorithms and the dissemination of illegal content.
For its part, X has said that it removes all illegal content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and permanently suspends offending accounts. To defend itself, it asserted that prompting Grok to create illegal content carries the same consequences as uploading illegal files.
While artificial intelligence offers many benefits, it is also creating new risks, such as the creation of CSAM. This move by the EU signals a more aggressive stance towards holding platforms like xAI accountable for the outputs of their models.
Let us know in the comments if you agree with what the EU is doing.