O Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has limited some of its “Imagine” imaging features to paid X subscribers onlydays after the controversy international report on the AI tool having responded to requests from users “digitally undressing” people, including children.
The change appears to have occurred this Thursday (8) and Friday (9). Grok’s X account responds to image requests with the message: “Generating and editing paid subscribers,” and includes a subscription link.
However, the restriction only applies to one of the ways X users interact with Grok. An “edit image” button on photos uploaded to the social network allows any user to use the system and edit the image.
Additionally, image and video generation remains free through Grok’s independent website and app. The restriction appears to only apply to the function where users tag the chatbot in an X post with a request, which the technology then fulfills in a public post.
A CNN had previously reported that in the weeks leading up to this trend exploding on X, Musk expressed frustration with Grok Imagine’s security restrictions during a meeting at xAI. Three key employees on the security team, including the head of product security, also left the company in the weeks before the controversy.
Officials in the United Kingdom, European Union, Malaysia and India have expressed concern about Grok’s protections and how it leads to what many consider deepfake pornography.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized X’s latest move, saying it “simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of illegal images into a premium service,” according to the BBC.
While controversy over digital nudity was at its height on the social network, the platform’s leaders — including Musk and head of product Nikita Bier — boasted that X was experiencing some of its highest engagement rates.
xAI also announced this week that it has completed its Series E funding round, surpassing the target of US$15 billion (around R$80.5 billion) and raising US$20 billion (R$107 billion) from investors.
An X spokesperson did not immediately respond to X’s request for comment. CNN.
