Elon Musk’s AI company has restricted Grok’s controversial AI image generation feature to paying X members only after the tool drew intense criticism from around the world for allowing users to generate sexual and nude images of women and children.
Grok said in a response to users on Friday that only paying X subscribers can generate and edit images on the platform. Notably, these limitations do not apply to Grok apps. At the time of publication, the Grok app allowed anyone to generate images without paying a subscription fee.
Grok’s image generation feature was initially available to everyone with a daily limit, but any user could upload a photo and edit it, as well as generate sexual or nude versions. What followed was a veritable flood of non-consensual sexual images of children, actors, models and celebrities, sparking the outrage of multiple countries.
Both Mr. “Those who use grok to create illegal content will suffer the same consequences as those who upload illegal content,” Musk tweeted last week.
The United Kingdom, the European Union, and India have all publicly accused X and Grok of allowing the use of such capabilities. The European Union on Thursday asked xAI to preserve all documentation about the chatbot, and India’s communications ministry last week ordered it to make immediate changes to stop it from exploiting its image-generating capabilities or jeopardizing domestic safe harbor protections. Britain’s communications watchdog said it was also in contact with xAI regarding the issue.
