Elon Musk’s Grok curbs AI image editing usage after deepfakes backlash

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok has limited its image editing tool to paying users amid growing concerns about deepfakes on the platform.

It comes after regulator Ofcom said it made “urgent contact” with the tech tycoon’s social media platform X, which created the integrated AI chatbot, following reports users have prompted the tool to generate sexualised images of people, including children.

Grok is now telling people making such requests that only paid subscribers are able to do so – meaning their name and payment information must be on file.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall this week said action must be taken urgently on the issue and she backed Ofcom to take “any enforcement action” deemed necessary.

An internet safety organisation said its analysts have confirmed the existence of “criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 which appears to have been created using the (Grok) tool”.

Grok’s move to limit the tool to paying users is “not good enough”, The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said.

Hannah Swirsky, head of policy at the IWF, said: “This move does not undo the harm which has been done.

“We do not believe it is good enough to simply limit access to a tool which should never have had the capacity to create the kind of imagery we have seen in recent days.

“Companies must make sure the products they build and make available to the global public are safe by design.

“If that means governments and regulators need to force them to design safer tools, then that is what must happen. Sitting and waiting for unsafe products to be abused before taking action is unacceptable.”

Love Island presenter Maya Jama is among those to have asked Grok not to modify or edit her photos.

Jama, who has nearly 700,000 followers on X, posted: “Hey @grok, I do not authorize you to take, modify, or edit any photo of mine, whether those published in the past or the upcoming ones I post.”

Earlier this week, the Government said it could stop using Mr Musk’s platform in protest.

Downing Street said “all options were on the table”, including a boycott of X.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “What we’ve seen on Grok is a disgrace. It is completely unacceptable.

“No-one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online and we won’t allow the proliferation of these demeaning images.

“X needs to deal with this urgently and Ofcom has our full backing to take enforcement action wherever firms are failing to protect UK users.”

Responding to Sir Keir’s comments on Friday, Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said he should “reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences”.

“There are always technical bugs during the early phases of new technology,” she said, adding: “If Starmer is successful in banning X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole.

“This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions.”

Shadow business secretary also Andrew Griffith rejected the idea of boycotting or banning X.

He told the Press Association: “You’ve got to be where the debate is taking place, and that’s all social media.

“Look, let’s just be really clear: it’s not X itself or Grok that is creating those images, it’s individuals, and they should be held accountable if they’re doing something that infringes the law.”

Mr Musk has previously insisted “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content”.

X has said it takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.