California Attorney General Issues Cease-and-Desist to xAI Over Grok Deepfakes

Summary

On January 16, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a cease-and-desist letter to xAI, demanding the company immediately halt the creation and distribution of deepfake nonconsensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated through its Grok AI model. The action followed Bonta's announcement earlier in the week of a formal investigation into the proliferation of nonconsensual sexually explicit material produced using Grok. The enforcement action specifically tar