Elon Musk’s xAI Restricts Grok Image Generation on X After User Backlash

Following weeks of consumer and political outrage as well as regulatory probes, Elon Musk's xAI said late on 14 January that Grok will no longer be able to produce sexualised photos of actual people on its social network X based on user inputs. In a tweet released through the X Safety account, xAI stated, "We have put in place technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis." "All users, including subscribers with paid plans, are subject to this restriction." How the whole outage forced the operators to change the whole operations lets explore.

US Puts a Strict Scanner

The disclosure follows California Attorney General Rob Bonta's statement that his office is looking into Silicon Valley-based xAI for what appears to be "large-scale production of deepfake nonconsensual intimate images". In a post on X, California Governor Gavin Newsom—who frequently supports Musk and his businesses—said, "xAI's decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children, is vile."

The European Commission has announced probes in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia in recent weeks. Both Malaysia and Indonesia have temporarily banned Grok. These revelations coincided with considerable complaints that Grok had made it easy for X users to create violent and pornographic images based on actual photos of people on the social network using straightforward text-based prompts.

US Senators Calling Google and Apple to Take Down X

Three Democratic senators in the United States have demanded that Apple and Google take down the X and Grok applications from their app stores. They further stated that unless the firm makes adjustments, X should not be made available. Additionally, Musk's business stated in the post that only users who have paid will be allowed to create and edit images using Grok on X. Musk had earlier challenged his X fans to violate Grok image moderation. He claimed that Grok should permit the upper-body nudity of fictional adult humans—not real ones—when NSFW is permitted, drawing comparisons to the content found in R-rated films. According to the regulations of each country, grok settings would also "vary in other regions," he said.