New Delhi, Jan 15 (NationPress) Following a substantial global uproar, the social media platform X, overseen by Elon Musk, has taken decisive action by disabling the controversial image generation feature of Grok. The AI-powered chatbot Grok will no longer have the capability to create objectionable images, particularly those depicting women, irrespective of the user's subscription status.

In a statement, the platform's safety account announced, “We have established technological measures to prevent Grok from enabling the editing of images of actual individuals in revealing attire like bikinis. This limitation affects all users, including those with premium accounts.”

Grok faced criticism for its “Spicy Mode” feature, which allowed users to generate sexualized deepfakes of women and children with simple prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.” Several nations responded by blocking access to the chatbot or initiating investigations.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) requested an action report from xAI, and the Attorney General from California also launched an inquiry into Grok's developer.

Additionally, a coalition of 28 civil society organizations urged Apple and Google to remove Grok and X from their app stores due to the proliferation of sexualized imagery.

X has since limited image generation and editing capabilities to paid subscribers only, a restriction that previously only applied to generating explicit images. “The creation and editing of images through the Grok account on X are now exclusive to paid subscribers,” the platform stated, emphasizing that this measure provides additional protection to ensure accountability for those misusing Grok to violate laws or policies.

The platform has committed to removing high-priority violative content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and non-consensual nudity, and will take appropriate actions against accounts breaching these regulations.

In December, the IT ministry instructed X to “immediately remove or disable access” to any content that breached relevant laws. The ministry also mandated X to enforce its terms of service rigorously, including suspending or terminating accounts that misused Grok for creating sexually explicit images of women and children.

Reports indicate that X has eliminated around 3,500 pieces of obscene content as well as sexually explicit imagery generated via Grok in India, and has identified and banned approximately 600 users who abused the AI chatbot.