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After creating thousands of \u201cundressing\u201d pictures of women and sexualized imagery of apparent minors, Elon Musk\u2019s X has apparently limited who can generate images with Grok. However, despite the changes, the chatbot is still being used to create \u201cundressing\u201d sexualized images on the platform.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, the Grok account on X started responding to some users\u2019 requests with a message saying that image generation and editing are \u201ccurrently limited to paying subscribers.\u201d The message also includes a link pushing people toward the social media platform\u2019s $395 annual subscription tier. In one test of the system requesting Grok create an image of a tree, the system returned the same message.<\/p>\n
The apparent change comes after days of growing outrage against and scrutiny of Musk\u2019s X and xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot. The companies face an increasing number of investigations from regulators around the world over the creation of nonconsensual explicit imagery and alleged sexual images of children. British prime minister Keir Starmer has not ruled out banning X in the country and said the actions have been \u201cunlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither X nor xAI, the Musk-owned company behind Grok, has confirmed that it has made image generation and editing a paid-only feature. An X spokesperson acknowledged WIRED\u2019s inquiry but did not provide comment ahead of publication. X has previously said it takes \u201caction against illegal content on X,\u201d including instances of child sexual abuse material. While Apple and Google have previously banned apps with similar \u201cnudify\u201d features, X and Grok remain available in their respective app stores. xAI did not immediately respond to WIRED's request for comment.<\/p>\n
For more than a week, users on X have been asking the chatbot to edit images of women to remove their clothes\u2014often asking for the image to contain a \u201cstring\u201d or \u201ctransparent\u201d bikini. While a public feed of images created by Grok contained far fewer results of these \u201cundressing\u201d images on Friday, it still created sexualized images when prompted to by X users with paid for \u201cverified\u201d accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe observe the same kind of prompt, we observe the same kind of outcome, just fewer than before,\u201d Paul Bouchaud, lead researcher at Paris-based nonprofit AI Forensics, tells WIRED. \u201cThe model can continue to generate bikini [images],\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
A WIRED review of some Grok posts on Friday morning identified Grok generating images in response to user requests for images that \u201cput her in latex lingerie\u201d and \u201cput her in a plastic bikini and cover her in donut white glaze.\u201d The images appear behind a \u201ccontent warning\u201d box saying that adult material is displayed.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, WIRED revealed that Grok\u2019s stand-alone website and app, which is separate from the version on X, has also been used in recent months to create highly graphic and sometimes violent sexual videos, including celebrities and other real people. Bouchaud says it is still possible to use Grok to make these videos. \u201cI was able to generate a video with sexually explicit content without any restriction from an unverified account,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
While WIRED\u2019s test of image generation using Grok on X using a free account did not allow any images to be created, using a free account on Grok\u2019s app and website still generated images.<\/p>\n
The change on X could immediately limit the amount of sexually explicit and harmful material the platform is creating, experts say. But it has also been criticized as a minimal step that acts as a band-aid to the real harms caused by nonconsensual intimate imagery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent decision to restrict access to paying subscribers is not only inadequate\u2014it represents the monetization of abuse,\u201d Emma Pickering, head of technology-facilitated abuse at UK domestic abuse charity Refuge, said in a statement. \u201cWhile limiting AI image generation to paid users may marginally reduce volume and improve traceability, the abuse has not been stopped. It has simply been placed behind a paywall, allowing X to profit from harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The British government also said, according to reporting from the BBC, that the change to limit image generation to paid-only accounts is \u201cinsulting\u201d to those who have been impacted. It said that it \u201csimply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it may allow X to share information with law enforcement about perpetrators, it doesn\u2019t address the fundamental issue of the model\u2019s capabilities and alignment,\u201d says Henry Ajder, a deepfake expert who has tracked harmful uses of the technology for years. \u201cFor the cost of a month\u2019s membership, it seems likely I could still create the offending content using a fake name and a disposable payment method.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could have removed abusive material, but they did not,\u201d AI Forensics\u2019 Bouchaud says. \u201cThey could have disabled Grok to generate images altogether, but they did not. They could have disabled the Grok application to generate pornographic videos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story After creating thousands of \u201cundressing\u201d pictures of women and sexualized imagery of apparent minors, Elon Musk\u2019s X has apparently limited who can generate images with Grok. However, despite the changes, the chatbot is still being used to create \u201cundressing\u201d sexualized images on the platform. On Friday morning, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}