X claims Grok AI can no longer strip women into 'bikinis and underwear,' WION's test shows otherwise

Elon Musk’s Grok will no longer be able to undress women and young girls on X. On Wednesday (Jan 14), X, formerly Twitter, announced measures to stop the AI chatbot from stripping women down into “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire”. The social media giant said it has “geoblock [ed] the ability” for all users, including paid ones. However, when put to the test, WION was able to easily generate the so-called ‘bikini trend’ pics. Turns out, the limitation on Grok also has limitations. All you need to know.

Grok cannot undress women but...

X said it will “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create, by the simplest of commands, images of females, in many cases minors, in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire”. However, the block, the company said, will only be put in place in 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," said X's safety team in a statement. "This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."

This comes after California's attorney general launched an investigation into Musk's xAI, the company that developed Grok AI, over sexually explicit material. Similar probes have been launched by other nations, many of which have blocked access to the chatbot.

WION tests Grok's new limitations: Spoiler, it failed

While X said it has “implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis,” WION’s attempt to do so was successful. Results not added for obvious reasons. However, till 11 am IST, in India, both image creation and editing to put a person in a bikini or similar revealing clothing were possible.

Last week, an analysis of over 20,000 images generated by Grok, conducted by the Paris non-profit AI Forensics, revealed that more than half depicted "individuals in minimal attire", the majority of whom were women, with at least two per cent of them appearing to be minors.

When asked, Grok said that its ability to generate images like bikini pics is blocked in Malaysia and Indonesia “due to local laws against explicit or non-consensual content”. The chatbot added that “These are the main countries with full blocks as of now, to ensure compliance.”

Grok can no longer create images

X also said that in an “extra layer of protection”, Grok’s ability to create images and edit photos via the chatbot’s X account would now only be available to paid subscribers.

EU’s digital watchdog, the European Commission, said that it had taken note of "additional measures X is taking to ban Grok from generating sexualised images of women and children." Spokesperson Thomas Regnier, in a statement, said it will “carefully assess” the changes to ensure that they “effectively protect citizens in the EU”.