Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot built into Elon Musk’s social media platform X, has come under intense scrutiny in the past few weeks. UK ministers have condemned the misuse of the tool, which has been used to generate and edit sexualised images of real people without their consent. Elon Musk has previously insisted ‘anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content’ (PA) PA Archive And Ofcom has now launched an investigation to determine whether X has failed to comply with online safety laws. A number of countries have now banned Grok, and there have been calls for the UK to block the platform too. Here, we look at what Grok is, how it is being abused, and how governments around the world are intervening. What is Grok? Grok is a free AI chatbot developed by xAI, the artificial-intelligence company owned by Elon Musk. Launched in November 2023, it is integrated into X, where users can tag Grok directly in posts or replies under other users' posts to ask it for a particular response, or to generate or edit images using AI. It has been designed to provide candid responses and creative outputs, with a reputation for looser content moderation than competitors - which is where the current issue lies. Why is Grok attracting controversy? Grok has been all over the headlines in the past few days, as the chatbot was responding to user requests to create sexually explicit images of real individuals without their consent. There have been thousands of requests asking Grok to edit images of women to show them in bikinis or little clothing, with some content appearing to involve minors. Elon Musk, founder of X, is facing backlash over X's AI chatbot which has been used to create sexualised deepfakes AFP via Getty Images Late last week, Grok started limiting requests for AI images to subscribers who pay for certain premium features.