Grok and the Rise of Digital AI-Based Sexual Abuse

As technology continues to evolve at pace, so too do the ways harm can occur. At Survivors’ Network, we are increasingly concerned about the rise of digital, AI-based sexual abuse, a form of harm that is often misunderstood, minimised, or dismissed as “not real”, despite its very real and devastating impact on survivors.

Recent conversations around AI tools such as Grok have highlighted how generative artificial intelligence can be misused to create sexually explicit, abusive, or degrading content without consent. While the technology itself is often presented as neutral or innovative, its misuse reflects the same power imbalances, misogyny, and cultures of entitlement that underpin sexual violence in all its forms.

What is AI-based sexual abuse?

AI-based sexual abuse can include:

• The creation of deepfake sexual images or videos using someone’s likeness without their consent
• The manipulation of real images to make them sexual or explicit
• The use of AI tools to generate sexual content involving real people
• The harassment, threats, or coercion of individuals using AI-generated material

Crucially, survivors do not need to have ever shared an intimate image for this abuse to occur. A face taken from social media, a workplace website, or a school photo can be enough.

“It’s not real” — but the harm is

One of the most damaging myths around AI-based abuse is that because the content is “fake”, the harm somehow isn’t real. Survivors tell us the opposite.

The impact can include fear, shame, anxiety, loss of control, damage to relationships and careers, and an overwhelming sense of violation. Survivors may worry constantly about who has seen the content, where it has been shared, and whether it will ever truly disappear. This mirrors the trauma experienced by survivors of image-based sexual abuse and other forms of sexual violence.

As with all sexual abuse, the harm lies not in the technology, but in the absence of consent.

Technology moving faster than accountability

Platforms and AI developers are often quick to innovate, but slow to take responsibility when their tools are misused. Safeguards are frequently introduced only after harm has already occurred, leaving survivors to navigate complex reporting systems, unclear legal protections, and dismissive responses from those in power who often bow to big tech.

For many survivors, reporting digital sexual abuse can feel exhausting and retraumatising. Responses may minimise the abuse, focus on how the content was created rather than the harm caused, or place responsibility back onto the survivor to “stay offline” or “protect themselves”.

This mirrors long-standing patterns in responses to sexual violence offline: disbelief, deflection, and a lack of accountability.

Who is most at risk?

While anyone can be targeted, evidence and survivor experiences show that AI-based sexual abuse disproportionately affects:

• Women and girls

• Children and young people

• LGBTQ+ people

• People of colour

• Public-facing professionals and activists

These abuses do not exist in isolation; they sit within wider systems of sexism, racism, homophobia, and misogyny.

Survivors deserve better

At Survivors’ Network, we believe that digital sexual abuse is sexual abuse. Survivors deserve to be taken seriously, supported without judgment, and protected by laws and systems that recognise the realities of online harm.

This means:

• Stronger regulation and accountability for AI developers and platforms

• Clear legal frameworks that centre consent and survivor harm

• Trauma-informed responses from police, employers, schools, and institutions

• Accessible, specialist support for survivors navigating digital abuse

Most importantly, it means listening to survivors.

Our message to survivors

If you have experienced AI-based sexual abuse, you are not overreacting. You are not responsible. What happened to you matters.

You deserve support, understanding, and the space to heal, whether the abuse happened online, offline, or both.

As technology changes, our commitment does not. Survivors’ Network will continue to stand with survivors, speak out against emerging forms of sexual violence, and challenge the systems that allow harm to continue unchecked.