AI company’s chatbot faces criticism over its generation of sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and girls

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has raised $20bn in its latest funding round, the startup announced Tuesday, even as its marquee chatbot Grok faces backlash over generating sexualized, nonconsensual images of women and underage girls.

xAI’s Series E funding round featured big name investors, including Nvidia, Fidelity Management and Resource Company, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and Valor Equity Partners – the private investment firm of Musk’s longtime friend and former Doge member Antonio Gracias.

The funding round exceeded its initial $15bn target, according to xAI’s press release. The company touted Grok’s image generation abilities in the announcement of its latest funding round