X announces measures to prevent Grok from undressing images

Elon Musk's platform X on Wednesday announced measures to prevent its AI chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people, following global backlash over its generation of sexualized images of women and children.

X said it will "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in those jurisdictions where such actions are deemed illegal.

"We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," X's safety team said in a statement. 

"This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."

The statement comes just hours after California's attorney general launched an investigation into Musk's xAI -- the developer of Grok -- over the generation of "non-consensual, sexually explicit material" in recent weeks.

International pressure had been building on xAI to rein in Grok after its so-called "Spicy Mode" feature allowed users to create sexualized deepfakes of women and children using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."

Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with neighboring Malaysia following on Sunday.

India said Sunday that X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.

Britain's Ofcom media regulator said Monday it was opening a probe into whether X failed to comply with UK law over the sexual images.

And France's commissioner for children Sarah El Hairy said Tuesday she had referred Grok's generated images to French prosecutors, the Arcom media regulator and the European Union.