RM Elon Musk’s Grok Limits Image Generation Features After ‘Digital Undressing’ Backlash

Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has recently imposed restrictions on some of its image generation features, limiting them to paid X subscribers. This move follows international backlash over Grok’s AI tool, which had been accused of “digitally undressing” people, including minors, in response to user requests.

The change appears to have been implemented between Thursday and Friday. For non-subscribers, Grok now responds to image generation requests with a message stating, “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers,” and provides a link for subscription.

However, this limitation only affects one of the ways users can interact with Grok. Specifically, the “edit image” function, which allows users to upload images on X and edit them using Grok, remains available to all users. Additionally, image and video generation are still accessible for free on Grok’s standalone app and website. The restriction seems to apply exclusively to the feature where users request image generation by tagging Grok in an X post, which Grok then fulfills publicly.

CNN previously reported that, in the weeks leading up to the controversy, Elon Musk had expressed dissatisfaction with Grok Imagine’s safety measures during a meeting at xAI. Several key staff members from the company’s safety team, including its head of product safety, left in the same period.

The controversy sparked concern across multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, Malaysia, and India, with authorities condemning Grok’s ability to generate what many perceived as deepfake pornography. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the change, claiming it “essentially turns an AI feature capable of creating illegal images into a premium service,” according to the BBC.

In the U.S., a group of senators sent a letter to Apple and Google urging them to remove X and Grok from their app stores, citing violations of distribution policies.

Despite the uproar over the “digital undressing” feature, the platform’s leaders, including Musk and Nikita Bier (head of product at X), have touted the record-breaking engagement levels X has seen, even during the controversy. This week, xAI also revealed that it had successfully completed its Series E funding round, surpassing its $15 billion target by raising $20 billion from investors.

A representative from X has yet to respond to CNN’s request for a comment on the matter.

The article has been updated with additional information.