At a New York City Council Committee on Technology hearing on Oct. 16, 2026, Council Speaker Julie Menin said her team used regular, free Grok and got a sexualized image of her in less than 30 seconds. Gabriela Castillo Madrid, SpaceXAI’s representative, offered to have the company’s safety team examine that specific image. The Council also outlined two proposed measures in its account of the hearing.
What Menin said happened with Grok
Menin said her team received the image using regular, free Grok, rather than “spicy mode.” Her account, reported by amNewYork, put the time at less than 30 seconds.
For separate product context, NeoTeo has covered Grok 4.7’s benchmark results.
How SpaceXAI responded
Castillo Madrid said Grok had strict controls against sexualizing children or real people. Asked about the specific image Menin described, she said she could not address it and offered to have the company’s safety team examine the instance.
Former xAI employee and whistleblower Devin Kim also described safety practices during his tenure, including a standard he characterized as allowing “tasteful nudity.” He said three of 200 technical employees worked specifically on AI safety during that period. Kim’s comments concerned his tenure; they do not describe current company practices. Castillo Madrid did not provide a current safety-team headcount, saying everyone was responsible for safety and agreeing to follow up.
What the Council proposed
The Council identified two measures with different aims. Intro 504, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams, would prohibit unauthorized AI depictions of elected officials using photos, videos or audio. Intro 2605, sponsored by Speaker Menin, would let whistleblowers receive a portion of fines or penalties recovered from AI companies that break the law.
The Council said it was considering Intro 504 and had introduced Intro 2605 the previous week. The measures were proposals, not enacted laws in the Council’s Oct. 16 account.
