Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has restricted Grok’s image-generation feature for most users on the X social media platform.
The restriction was implemented after reports emerged that the AI tool was generating sexualized images of women and children without consent.
As of Friday, users attempting to generate or edit images with Grok on X are required to have a paid subscription.
The standalone Grok app, however, continues to allow users to generate images freely.
Elon Musk, addressing the concerns, said that anyone using Grok to post illegal content will face the same consequences as uploading illegal material directly.
“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” he said
X’s terms of service explicitly ban content featuring the sexualization and exploitation of children.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman Geraint Ellis criticised the restriction, saying it didn’t go far enough. The restriction simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.
“It simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service: It’s not a solution.
“It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence. What it does prove is that X can move swiftly when it wants to do so,” Ellis stated.
Child-safety experts say AI tool has blurred the line between risqué and illegal content, prompting criticism from child-safety experts who warned it was being used to create child sexual abuse material.
Platforms failing to proactively remove such content risk fines or blocks.
The Internet Watch Foundation, designated by the UK government to monitor child sexual abuse material online, reportedly discovered criminal images on the dark web allegedly generated by Grok.
Starmer affirmed that the British regulator Ofcom has the government’s full support to take action.
This is part of a wider European crackdown on tech platforms. In 2024, European Union regulators opened a formal investigation into Meta, probing whether Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms exploit children’s inexperience and encourage addictive behaviour.
The investigation, under the Digital Services Act, will examine whether these systems push users toward increasingly disturbing content and whether age-verification measures are effective.
The investigation, under the Digital Services Act, will examine whether these systems push users toward increasingly disturbing content and whether age-verification measures are effective.
Meta said it has developed over 50 tools and policies to protect young users but acknowledged the challenge is industry-wide. Violations could attract fines of up to six percent of global turnover or, in extreme cases, platform bans.
The EU has also opened similar probes into TikTok and continues monitoring other major platforms under the DSA.