Elon Musk's Grok AI restricts image editing features to paid X users after Deepfakes go viral across the world

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, integrated into his social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), has now announced that its image generation and editing tools will now be restricted to paying subscribers. This decision of the company comes after weeks of mounting criticism over Grok’s misuse, with users exploiting the tool to create sexualised deepfake images of women and children. “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features,” Grok posted late January 8, linking to X’s premium membership page.Recently, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok rolled out a feature which allowed the users to create sexualised images of women without their consent. The chatbot faced widespread criticism. The tool can take pictures from social media platform X including mages of real people, and digitally alter them to remove clothing or depict them in lingerie and bikinis. The situation after the rollout of an "edit image" button in late December, which lets users modify any image on the platform. Elon Musk said that anyone using AI chatbot Grok to make illegal content on his platform X (formerly known as Twitter) will be punished. Musk’s comments came after the chatbot – hardwired into X came under fire for producing obscene/ non-consensual images, including women and children. In an online post, the tech billionaire wrote “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”. The Tesla CEO was responding to a post on “inappropriate images” generated by grok.DogeDesigner, followed by Elon Musk wrote in the post: “Some people are saying Grok is creating inappropriate images. But that’s like blaming a pen for writing something bad. A pen doesn’t decide what gets written. The person holding it does. Grok works the same way. What you get depends a lot on what you put in. Think about it!”.The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently raised concerns over obscene and harmful content allegedly generated by Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok. The ministry send a letter to X (formerly Twitter), the social media website owned by Elon Musk, pointing out failures in moderating AI-generated content on its platform. The ministry highlighted concerns that the Grok and other services of xAI have been used to generate and distribute obscene or non-consensual images, particularly targeting the dignity and privacy of women. Through the letter, the government has also sought a report on the actions taken by the company, and the immediate removal of illegal materials.Now, X has submitted a reply to the ministry, however the officials described it as ‘not adequate’, saying the response by the social media platform lacked specific actions taken and preventive steps implemented.