Grok stops users from making sexualized AI images after global backlash
Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
- After significant backlash, Grok won't generate AI images of real people in sexualized clothing.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he launched an investigation into Grok's AI deepfakes.
- Indonesia and Malaysia suspended Grok amid concerns over sexualized images of women and minors.
Grok will no longer be allowed to create AI photos of real people in sexualized or revealing clothing, after widespread global backlash.
"We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," X's safety account said in a blog post on the platform on Wednesday. "This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."
The change was announced hours after California's top prosecutor, Rob Bonta, said he launched an investigation into sexualized AI deepfakes, including those of children, generated by Grok. Bonta said that there had been a flood of reports in the last few weeks that Grok users were taking pictures of women and minors they found online and using the AI model to undress them in images.
Indonesia and Malaysia suspended Grok because of the images, the first countries in the world to ban the AI tool. Lawmakers in the UK publicly considered a suspension.
In Wednesday's blog post, the social media company reiterated that image creation and the ability to edit images via Grok on the X platform will now only be available to paid users as an additional safety measure.
The company restricted non-paying users last week after complaints from officials globally, but it was slammed for being insufficient.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it "simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service."
Elon Musk, who owns xAI, the maker of Grok, said that the UK government wanted "any excuse for censorship" in response to a post questioning why AI tools like Gemini and ChatGPT were not being looked into.
On Wednesday, a few hours before X's official account posted about the ban on creating sexualized images, Musk asked users to try to get around the AI model's image restrictions.
Bonta's office and Starmer's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.