this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
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X pulls Grok images after UK ban threat over undress tool (www.theregister.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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.

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[–] Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 37 points 1 day ago (3 children)

With US oligarchs "threats" and discussions do not work. Only action and the type of action that hurts them personally.

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 14 points 1 day ago

Threats do work when delivered properly. See how the EU forced Apple into moving to USB-C or opening up sideloading/alternate app markets.

You just need to have weight to throw around behind your threats. The EU has weight. The UK alone? Hah.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 5 points 1 day ago

Cynical take: They only did it openly to draw attention to it & pull in more subscribers. Because you can be sure Xhitter's clientele loves that feature.

"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.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Seems like this has some teeth at least. Elon usually doesn't budge at these sorts of legislation changes but this cleary has him a little nervous at least.

[–] Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago

Perhaps, but if anything they should have used this as a cover to ban twitter. I do not find American style ostentatious "freedom polemics" to be convincing, but on top of that Musk has been found to meddle in local politics to benefit the far right and promote UK criminals.