Grok

UK PM Keir Starmer’s office says move to limit access to paying subscribers ‘insulting’ to victims and ‘not a solution’.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has limited image generation on the social media platform X amid growing backlash over its use to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children.

Grok told X users on Friday that image generation and editing features were now available only to paying subscribers.

The standalone Grok app, which operates separately from X, still allows users to generate images without a subscription.

The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines and several countries pushed back publicly against the tool that allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects’ clothes.

The European Commission said on Monday that such images circulating on X were unlawful and appalling.

The United Kingdom’s data regulator also said it had asked the platform to explain how it was complying with data protection laws following concerns that Grok was generating sexually abusive images of women.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office called the move to limit access to paying subscribers “insulting” to victims and “not a solution”.

“That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. “It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.”

The EU executive, for its part, said it had “taken note of the recent changes”.

But EU digital affairs spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters, “This doesn’t change our fundamental issue, paid subscription or non-paid subscription.”

“We don’t want to see such images. It’s as simple as that,” he said, adding, “What we’re asking platforms to do is to make sure that their design, that their systems do not allow the generation of such illegal content.”

The European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar about the sexualised images.

France, Malaysia and India have also criticised Musk’s platform over the issue.

Musk said last week that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as uploading such material directly.

This is not the first time that Grok has been criticised, after the chatbot last year was slammed for providing anti-Semitic responses to questions from X users.

In July, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI disabled Grok’s text replies and deleted posts after the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler and made anti-Semitic remarks.

Jan. 6 (UPI) — British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said Elon Musk must deal with “appalling and unacceptable” images of women without their consent generated by the platform’s Grok artificial intelligence service.

The Grok bot service has been digitally undressing women and putting them in sexualized situations without their consent.

Kendall called it “absolutely appalling.”

“We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls,” she said. “Make no mistake, the [United Kingdom] will not tolerate the endless proliferation of disgusting and abusive material online. We must all come together to stamp it out.”

X said in a statement: “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material, by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.”

X user Daisy Dixon told the BBC that she found sexualized images of herself made by Grok.

She noticed that everyday pictures she had posted of herself on the platform were changed to undress her or sexualize her. It made her feel shocked, humiliated and afraid for her safety, she said.

“Myself and many other women on X continue to report the inappropriate AI images/videos we are being sent daily, but X continues to reply that there has been no violation of X rules,” she said. “I just hope Kendall’s words turn into concrete enforcement soon — I don’t want to open my X app any more as I’m frightened about what I might see.”

Jessaline Caine told The Guardian that the government’s action is “spineless.” Caine, a survivor of child sexual abuse, said that as of Tuesday morning, Grok was still obeying requests to change an image of her at age 3 to put her in a string bikini. ChatGPT and Gemini rejected the same requests.

“Other platforms have these safeguards so why does Grok allow the creation of these images?” Caine asked. “The images I’ve seen are so vile and degrading. The government has been very reactive. These AI tools need better regulation.”

Thomas Regnier, spokesperson for tech sovereignty at the European Commission told the BBC Newshour that the Commission is taking it very seriously.

“We don’t want this in the European Union … it’s appalling, it’s disgusting,” he said.

“The Wild West is over in Europe. All companies have the obligation to put their own house in order — and this starts by being responsible and removing illegal content that is being generated by your AI tool.”

It’s illegal to create or share non-consensual intimate images or CSAM, including AI deepfakes. Fake images of people in bikinis may also qualify.

Online child safety campaigner Beeban Kidron said AI-generated images of children in bikinis may not be CSAM but they disrespect children’s privacy and agency.

“We cannot live in a world in which a kid can’t post a picture of winning a race unless they are willing to be sexualized and humiliated,” The Guardian reported she said.

Ofcom has made “urgent contact” with Elon Musk’s company xAI following reports its AI tool Grok can be used to make “sexualised images of children” and undress women.

A spokesperson for the regulator said it was also investigating concerns Grok has been producing “undressed images” of people.

The BBC has seen several examples on the social media platform X of people asking the chatbot to alter real images to make women appear in bikinis without their consent, as well as putting them in sexual situations.

X has not responded to a request for comment. On Sunday, it issued a warning to users not to use Grok to generate illegal content including child sexual abuse material.

Elon Musk also posted to say anyone who asks the AI to generate illegal content would “suffer the same consequences” as if they uploaded it themselves.

XAI’s own acceptable use policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner”.

But people have been using Grok to digitally undress people without their consent and without notifying them.

The European Commission – the EU’s enforcement arm – said on Monday it was “seriously looking into this matter” and authorities in France, Malaysia and India were reportedly assessing the situation.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation told the BBC it had received reports from the public relating to images generated by Grok on X.

But it said it had so far not seen images which would cross the UK’s legal threshold to be considered child sexual abuse imagery.

Grok is a free virtual assistant – with some paid for premium features – which responds to X users’ prompts when they tag it in a post.

Samantha Smith, a journalist who discovered users had used the AI to create pictures of her in a bikini, told the BBC’s PM programme on Friday it had left her feeling “dehumanised and reduced into a sexual stereotype”.

“While it wasn’t me that was in states of undress, it looked like me and it felt like me and it felt as violating as if someone had actually posted a nude or a bikini picture of me,” she said.

Under the Online Safety Act (OSA), Ofcom says it is illegal to create or share intimate or sexually explicit images – including “deepfakes” created with AI – of a person without their consent.

Tech firms are also expected to take “appropriate steps” to reduce the risks of UK users encountering such content, and take it down “quickly” when made aware of it.

Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, said the reports were “deeply disturbing”.

She said the Committee found the OSA to be “woefully inadequate” and called it “a shocking example of how UK citizens are left unprotected whilst social media companies act with impunity”.

And she called for the government to take up recommendations by the Committee to compel social media platforms “to take greater responsibility for their content”.

Meanwhile, European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said on Monday it was aware of posts made by Grok “showing explicit sexual content,” as well as “some output generated with childlike images”.

“This is illegal,” he said, also calling it “appalling” and “disgusting”.

“This is how we see it, and this has no place in Europe,” he said.

Regnier said X was “well aware” the EU was “very serious” about enforcing its rules for digital platforms – having handed X a €120m (£104m) fine in December for breaching its Digital Services Act.

A Home Office spokesperson said it was legislating to ban nudification tools, and under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tech would “face a prison sentence and substantial fines”.