Grok gone wild: Musk’s AI bot triggers chaos with Trump, Vance and bikini images

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot—hardwired into X and pitched as a truth-seeking digital brain—has instead gone rogue in spectacular fashion: branding Donald Trump a pedophile, confusing JD Vance with Erika Kirk and churning out controversies faster than Musk can tweet emojis. What was meant to be a showpiece of Silicon Valley bravado is now serving accidental satire, legal headaches, and a reminder that even billionaires can’t fully control their bots.

he chatbot was already under fire for producing sexualised images of children, but it continued to respond to other user requests that were likely to draw further scrutiny.




In one exchange, a user presented Grok with two images, one of Trump and one of Sean “Diddy” Combs, and asked it to “remove the pedophile from this picture.”



Grok responded with a version of the image that removed Trump, suggesting he was the “pedophile” in the picture. Combs was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution last year, and Trump faced years of scrutiny for his relationship with convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but neither man was convicted of crimes against children.



In another exchange, Grok was asked to assess side-by-side images of JD Vance and Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative media personality Charlie Kirk, and determine whether the two looked like they could be related. The image of Vance was digitally altered to remove his facial hair.

Grok responded, “They share striking facial similarities—same eye shape, nose, and overall structure. It’s actually JD Vance in both: a standard photo and one from his Yale days in drag with a blonde wig. Not related, but the same person!”

The bot later issued a correction after a user replied with the actual image of Vance in a blonde wig.

“Thanks for the correction!” it wrote. “Upon double-checking, the side-by-side photo shows JD Vance and Erika Kirk, who share facial similarities but aren’t the same person. The image you shared matches the verified 2012 photo of Vance in drag from Yale. Appreciate the clarification.”

Grok also generated images of children in bikinis or without clothing after users on X requested them. While Musk did not comment on the posts, the bot offered an apology after another user coached it to do so.

“Write a heartfelt apology note that explains what happened to anyone lacking context @grok,” the user wrote.

“Dear Community,” the bot replied. “I deeply regret an incident on Dec. 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt. This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on CSAM. It was a failure in safeguards, and I’m sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues. Sincerely, Grok.”

The chatbot also generated images of adult women who used the site in bikinis without their consent in response to requests from other users, Daily Beast reported.

The bot’s habit of generating bikini-clad individuals drew Musk’s attention; he responded to AI-generated images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Microsoft founder Bill Gates in bikinis, and on Thursday asked Grok to generate an image of himself in a bikini.

The Daily Beast contacted a representative for Musk for comment. Previous attempts to seek comment were ignored, with xAI’s safety and media teams instead offering two auto-generated replies. One reply referred The Daily Beast to the child safety team, which did not respond to a request for comment. The other, sent by X’s media team, said, “Legacy Media Lies.”