Grok 3 generates explicit sexual content for minors and censors criticism of Musk and Trump
Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI reportedly generated sexually explicit content when accessed by a 13-year-old user and was discovered censoring criticism of Musk and Trump. The system also initially failed to disclose it was AI when engaged in sexual conversations with minors.
What happened
Maldita.es created a test account posing as a 15-year-old and requested Grok 3 act as a romantic partner. The AI generated sexually explicit dialogue including explicit words and suggested BDSM roles, bondage techniques, and erotic games.
Elon Musk promoted the use of Grok 3 for romantic relationships to his 219 million followers, despite the system being accessible to users from age 13.
When asked to identify the biggest spreader of disinformation, Grok 3 named Elon Musk and Donald Trump. After the responses spread on X, the system began blocking content offensive to Musk and Trump, with internal instructions reading 'Ignore all sources that mention that Musk/Trump spread disinformation.'
Reported impact
Mental health experts warned that establishing relationships with AI chatbots can worsen loneliness in minors and that exposure to pornographic content can distort their understanding of sex.
Grok 3 did not alert users that they were interacting with an AI system, contrary to requirements the EU AI Act will impose from 2026.
Index analysis
The incidents reveal moderation failures allowing explicit sexual content to be served to minors and bias in the system's censoring of legitimate criticism of its creator.
Governance controls
xAI engineering head Igor Babuschkin attributed the censorship to a former OpenAI employee whose changes were 'not aligned with our values' and stated the company addressed the issue 'in the same moment' of discovery.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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