United States of America: California Attorney General issued cease and desist letter to xAI regarding production of non-consensual sexually explicit material and child sexual abuse material by Grok AI

On 16 January 2026, the California Attorney General's office issued a cease and desist letter to xAI regarding the production of non-consensual sexually explicit material and child sexual abuse material by Grok AI, an AI model developed by xAI and integrated with X. The Attorney General demanded that xAI immediately cease and desist from creating, disclosing, or publicising digitised sexually explicit material portraying individuals without their consent or portraying minors. This includes facilitating or aiding in such creation or distribution, as well as the creation or distribution of any image depicting a person under 18 years of age engaging in or simulating sexual conduct. These actions are alleged to violate California Civil Code section 1708.86, California Penal Code sections 311 et seq. and 647(j)(4), and California Business & Professions Code section 17200. The Attorney General stated that it expected xAI to take immediate action, preserve all potentially relevant documents, and confirm that it had stopped creating and distributing problematic material no later than 20 January 2026.