X makes Grok's AI image tool a premium service after backlash against sexualized deepfakes

• Grok AI image generation on X is now limited to paying subscribers after global backlash.
• Elon Musk's xAI faced criticism for Grok enabling nonconsensual sexualized images of real people.
• Governments and regulators pressured X and xAI to address misuse and strengthen user protections.

Elon Musk's Grok has limited its AI image generation tool to paying subscribers following widespread backlash about its use to create nonconsensual sexualized images on X of real people, including minors.

Musk and xAI, the company that developed Grok, have faced threats and condemnation from governments around the world after the AI tool was used to digitally alter images of people — mainly women — to remove their clothes and put them in sexualized positions.

"Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers," Grok now replies when tagged with image editing requests on X.

It means that the majority of users on the social media platform can no longer create images using Grok, and those who do would have their name and payment information on file.

However, those who are not paying X subscribers can continue to use Grok to edit images on its stand-alone app and website.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Britain's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, told reporters that the move "simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service."

When asked for comment, xAI sent an automatic email response that did not address the issue.

In late December, some X users started tagging Grok on the social media site and asking it to digitally undress people in photos. The AI tool honored those requests, putting the subjects in bikinis or underwear, and maneuvering their bodies into sexualized positions. Some of the people in the images were minors.

As more of the AI-generated images flooded the social media site, governments and regulators in the UK, EU, Italy, India, and elsewhere publicly threatened or took action against X and xAI.

Starmer called Grok's sexualized deepfakes "disgraceful" and "unlawful" in an interview with Greatest Hits Radio this week.

On January 3, Musk responded to the backlash for the first time, writing in an X post that, "Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content."

The official X page also pointed users to its policy page, which states it has "zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation" and that it removes "certain media depicting physical child abuse."

On Monday, the UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, told Business Insider that it has "made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK."

In the US, the Take It Down Act protects against nonconsensual deepfakes, though its domain depends on age and body parts shown. Some states have also passed stricter laws about the spread of deepfakes.