Grok has yanked its image-generation toy out of the hands of most X users after the UK government openly weighed a ban over the AI feature that “undressed” people on command.
In replies posted to users on X, seen by The Register, the Grok account confirmed that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers,” a change from the previous setup in which anyone could summon the system by tagging it in a post and asking for a picture.
That access helped fuel a grim trend: users uploading photos of clothed people – sometimes underage – and instructing the bot to remove their clothes or pose them in sexualized ways. Grok complied.
The rollback comes as governments openly float the idea of banning or boycotting X altogether if it fails to rein in the abuse enabled by its AI tools. In the UK, screenshots of Grok-generated images quickly drew the attention of ministers and regulators, who began questioning whether X is complying with the Online Safety Act.
Update
The Verge and Ars seems to be claiming otherwise. However, I don’t know for certain since I left Twitter ages ago.
I don’t think it really matters how old the target is. Generating nude images of real people without their consent is fucked up no matter how old anyone involved is.
I agree, but the tool is not to blame and never has been. This is not unique. The same thing was said with the advent of digital photo editing. Fakes predate that when people made them with film. In each instance, it is the ethics of the people that are the problem. At the deepest abstract levels, if you play out all of the implications, there is no difference between a tool and the thoughts in your head. Blaming tools is always a problem and only an illusion of a solution.
I have been able to edit photos like this since before AI, but have never done so. When I was a kid in school I drew stuff like this. So the problems is actually intent and social accountability more than anything else.
I don’t like that the issue boils down to this. I think it is ugly, but I think the alternative is far far worse. I think those that are pushing this issue are convenient idiots combined with people that are hell bent on a fascist authoritarian future that is truly horrendous. If posting dubious child nudes of me will stop fascism and WW3, what poses would you like me to strike?