Editing function to be limited to paying subscribers after X threatened with fines and regulatory action

Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tool, has switched off its image creation function for the vast majority of users after a widespread outcry about its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery.

The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines, regulatory action and reports of a possible ban on X in the UK.

Ashley St Clair – a conservative influencer and former partner of Elon Musk – and Dan Milmo chart the scandal over Grok, X’s AI chatbot, after it generated sexualised images of women without their consent

The conservative writer and political strategist Ashley St Clair had just put her young son to bed when she received a text from a friend with a link to a page on X.

When she opened it, she says she saw a photo of ‘Grok undressing me and putting me in a bikini’.

Internet Watch Foundation warns Elon Musk-owned AI risks bringing sexualised imagery of children into the mainstream

Online criminals are claiming to have used Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool to create sexual imagery of children, as a child safety watchdog warned the technology risked bringing such material into the mainstream.

The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said users of a dark web forum boasted of using Grok Imagine to create sexualised and topless imagery of girls aged between 11 and 13. IWF analysts said the images would be considered child sexual abuse material (CSAM) under UK law.

Degrading pictures being posted on Elon Musk’s site despite the platform pledging to suspend people who generate them

Degrading images of children and women with their clothes digitally removed by Grok AI continue to be shared on Elon Musk’s X, despite the platform’s commitment to suspend users who generate them.

After days of concern over use of the chatbot to alter photographs to create sexualised pictures of real women and children stripped to their underwear without their consent, the UK’s communication’s watchdog, Ofcom, said on Monday that it had made “urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK”. Ofcom added that it would assess whether an investigation is necessary based on the company’s response.

AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systems

The world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency.

David Dalrymple, a programme director and AI safety expert at the Aria agency, told the Guardian people should be concerned about the growing capability of the technology.