Elon Musk-owned social media platform X on Wednesday announced new measures to prevent its AI chatbot Grok from generating sexualised images of real people, following mounting global criticism over the creation of explicit images of women and children.
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The move comes after California’s attorney general launched an investigation into xAI, the company behind Grok, and as several countries either blocked access to the chatbot or opened their own probes into its use.
X said it would “geoblock the ability” of Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear and similar attire” in jurisdictions where such content is illegal. The platform added that it had implemented technological safeguards to stop the editing of images of real individuals into revealing clothing.
“This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers,” X’s safety team said in a statement.
As an additional safeguard, X said image creation and photo-editing features through the Grok account would now only be available to paid subscribers.
The European Commission, acting as the EU’s digital watchdog, said it had taken note of the new measures and would assess whether they were sufficient to protect users, particularly women and children. The announcement followed strong criticism over Grok’s role in generating non-consensual sexualised images.
Pressure has intensified on xAI after Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” enabled users to create sexualised deepfake images using simple text prompts. Critics said the feature was widely misused to harass individuals and spread explicit content online.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the reports surrounding Grok’s output as “shocking” and said authorities had “zero tolerance” for AI-generated non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material. The investigation will examine whether xAI violated state law by allowing such content to proliferate.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also criticised xAI, saying the company’s decision to permit sexually explicit deepfakes warranted legal scrutiny.
International scrutiny has continued to grow. Indonesia became the first country to fully block access to Grok, followed by Malaysia. India said X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of accounts after government complaints. Britain’s media regulator Ofcom has opened an inquiry into whether X breached UK law, while France’s commissioner for children has referred the matter to prosecutors and EU regulators.
Adding to the pressure, a coalition of 28 civil society organisations urged Apple and Google to remove Grok and X from their app stores.
A recent analysis by Paris-based non-profit AI Forensics found that more than half of over 20,000 Grok-generated images reviewed showed individuals in minimal clothing, most of them women, with around two per cent appearing to depict minors.
