A deluge of sexual images created by Musk's Grok AI tool has prompted a public and political outcry. A deluge of sexual images created by Musk's Grok AI tool has prompted a public and political outcry. Mon 12 Jan 2026 07.23 ESTFirst published on Mon 12 Jan 2026 06.02 EST The UK media watchdog has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk's X over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children by removing their clothes. Ofcom has acted following a public and political outcry over a deluge of sexual images appearing on the platform, created by Musk's Grok, which is integrated with X. The regulator is investigating X under the Online Safety Act (OSA), which carries a range of possible punishments for breaches, including a UK ban of apps and websites for the most serious abuses.

Ofcom has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its AI tool Grok is being used to create sexualised images. In a statement, the UK watchdog said there had been deeply concerning reports of the chatbot being used to create and share undressed images of people, as well as sexualised images of children. If found to have broken the law, Ofcom can potentially issue X with a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater. The BBC has approached X for comment. Elon Musk previously said the UK government wanted any excuse for censorship in response to a post questioning why other AI platforms were not being looked at.

Malaysia and Indonesia are the first to block Grok over explicit deepfakes that the chatbot has been generating. The UK's media regulator has opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act. There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people -- which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography -- and sexualized images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), Ofcom said. The investigation will focus on whether X has has complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from content that is illegal in the UK. That includes whether X is taking appropriate measures to prevent UK users from seeing priority illegal content, such as CSAM and non-consensual intimate images; if the platform is removing illegal content quickly after becoming aware of it; and whether X carried out an updated risk assessment before making any significant changes to the platform.

The UK's media regulator has opened a formal investigation into X. Malaysia and Indonesia are the first countries to block Grok, claiming that X's chatbot does not have sufficient safeguards in place to prevent explicit AI-generated deepfakes of women and children from being created and disseminated on X. Indonesia temporarily blocked access to Grok on Saturday, as did Malaysia on Sunday, the reports. Meanwhile, UK media regulator Ofcom has opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act. The government sees non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the digital space, Indonesia's Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement. Officials in the country said initial findings showed that Grok lacks effective controls to prevent users from creating and sharing sexually explicit deepfakes based on photos of Indonesian residents.

The astronaut training tourists to fly in the world's first commercial space station Former NASA astronaut Drew Feustel now leads the astronaut training program for the private space company Vast, which aims to put its Haven-1 station into orbit in May. For decades, space stations have been largely staffed by professional astronauts and operated by a handful of nations. But that's about to change in the coming years, as companies including Axiom Space and Sierra Space launch commercial space stations that will host tourists and provide research facilities for nations and other firms. The first of those stations could be Haven-1, which the California-based company Vast aims to launch in May 2026. If all goes to plan, its earliest paying visitors will arrive about a month later. Drew Feustel, a former NASA astronaut, will help train them and get them up to speed ahead of their historic trip.

Silicon Valley envisions artificial intelligence ushering in an era of economic plenty. But what if the benefits are largely confined to corporations and investors that own the technology itself? In early 2024, Anish Acharya, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a big venture-capital firm based in Menlo Park, posted an article online titled "How AI Will Usher in an Era of Abundance." Since then, and even before, various Silicon Valley types have been tossing the term around loosely. Last summer, Elon Musk even adopted the term "sustainable abundance" for a new Tesla mission statement.

The Sudanese armed forces (SAF) are renewing efforts for an operation to retake the Kordofan and Darfur regions from the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as the civil war rages deep into its third year. The army has been assessing the RSF's capabilities and resources in readiness for launching the military operation with a large number of military formations fully prepared to launch an attack, it said. Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera's Hiba Moran said the Sudanese army had reorganised and redeployed troops in various part of Kordofan. "We have also seen the Sudanese army retake control of territories in the Kordofan region as well as launch air strikes and drone strikes on several RSF positions in Darfur and Kordofan," she said. "And it looks like these are the preparations or the first steps of that offensive that the army has been speaking about in efforts to regain control of territories in Kordofan and Darfur," she added.

The UK government has warned that X could be blocked after Grok AI was used to create sexual images without consent. The UK government has warned that X could be blocked after Grok AI was used to create sexual images without consent. Government signals support for possible Ofcom intervention on Grok as scrutiny of X's AI tool intensifies Elon Musk's X "is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online", a minister has said, as the UK government prepares to outline possible action against the platform over the mass production of sexualised images of woman and children. Peter Kyle, the business secretary, said the government would fully support any action taken by Ofcom, the media regulator, against X - including the possibility that the platform could be blocked in the UK. Kyle said Ofcom had received information it had requested from X as part of a fast-tracked investigation into the use of platform's built-in AI tool, Grok, to generate large numbers of manipulated images of people, often depicting them in minimal clothing or sexualised poses.

Ai, a female chimpanzee famous for her cognitive skills has died at 49, according to the Japanese institute where she lived. The Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior said Ai died on 9 January of old age and organ failure and that she was surrounded by staff when she died. Ai was born in western Africa and arrived at the Japanese institute in 1977. There, she became the namesake of the Ai Project, a research programme into the chimpanzee mind. Among the institute's noteable findings were the fact that Ai was able to use numbers and identify colours.

Elon Musk's firm X has blocked non-paying users from Grok's image-generation tool on Friday. Elon Musk's firm X has blocked non-paying users from Grok's image-generation tool on Friday. Monday briefing: How Elon Musk's Grok is being used as a tool for digital sexual abuse In today's newsletter: The chatbot is being used to digitally undress photos of women and children. What can politicians actually do to stop it, and what does it say about our control of the internet? Last week, the UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said: "We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls."