Musk’s Grok curbs AI image editing after backlash
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is blocking most users from creating or editing any images following a global backlash after it began spreading sexualized deepfakes of people.
The chatbot, accessed through Musk’s social media platform
Researchers warned that in a few cases some of the images depicted children.
Governments around the world have condemned the platform and launched investigations into it.
On Friday, Grok responded to image replacement requests with the following message: “Image creation and editing is currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.”
Although Grok’s subscriber numbers are not publicly available, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of open deepfakes produced by Grok compared to previous days.
The European Union criticized Grok for its “illegal” and “appalling” behavior, while authorities in France, India, Malaysia and a Brazilian lawmaker called for an investigation.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer threatened unspecified action against X.
“It’s disgraceful. It’s disgusting. And it shouldn’t be tolerated,” Starmer said on Greatest Hits radio.
“X needs to grasp this.”
He said media regulator Ofcom “has our full support to take action” and that “all options” were on the table.
“This is disgusting. X needs to take action and remove this material. We will take action on this because this is simply not acceptable.”
Ofcom and the UK’s privacy regulator said this week they had contacted X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI to inquire about the measures they were taking to comply with British regulations.
Grok is free for X users, who can ask him questions on the social media platform.
They can tag them directly in posts they create or in replies to other users’ posts.
Grok launched in 2023. Last summer, the company added Grok Imagine, a rendering feature called “spicy mode” that can create adult content.
The problem is compounded both by the fact that Musk is pitching his chatbot as a sharper alternative with more protection against rivals, and because images of Grok are public and therefore easily disseminated.
