The X Safety team says that people will no longer be able to use the X version of the AI Grok chatbot to edit existing images to undress people, though multiple reports suggested that this isn’t yet the case.
“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers,” the X Safety team said in a lengthy post Wednesday on the social media platform.
The move comes following international backlash to X users prompting Grok to edit images of real people, including children, to show them in sexually suggestive ways or to make them nude entirely.
Outside researcher Genevieve Oh found that during one 24-hour period Grok users on X “generated about 6,700 every hour that were identified as sexually suggestive or nudifying,” according to Bloomberg.
Malaysia and Indonesia blocked Grok entirely, while the United Kingdom, the European Union and California opened investigations into X and Grok over the creation and spread of “nudified” and otherwise AI-edited images, according to The Associated Press.
The X Safety team said the ability to create or edit images at all using Grok will be restricted to paid X subscribers only.
The Washington Times found that as of Thursday afternoon free users were still able to use Grok prompts to change images by clicking on the image, selecting the edit image button in the bottom right corner, and entering a prompt.
X also plans to geoblock users from Grok’s image capabilities to comply with local laws.
The X Safety Team said the platform would suppress “the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal.”
Staffers at The Verge found that they were still able to edit images as of Thursday, including “nudification” and putting X owner Elon Musk in a bikini.
The X Safety post did not make any mention of safety measures being applied to the standalone Grok site that is separate from X.
Paul Bouchaud, a researcher at nonprofit AI Forensics, told Wired that “we can still generate photorealistic nudity on Grok.com. We can generate nudity in ways that Grok on X cannot. … I could upload an image on Grok Imagine and ask to put the person in a bikini and it works.”
