Elon Musk’s AI bot Grok limits image generation amid deepfakes backlash

UK PM Keir Starmer’s office says move to limit access to paying subscribers ‘insulting’ to victims and ‘not a solution’.Published On 9 Jan 2026Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has limited image generation on the social media platform X amid growing backlash over its use to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children.Grok told X users on Friday that image generation and editing features were now available only to paying subscribers.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK presses X to address intimate deepfake imageslist 2 of 3EU flags ‘appalling’ child-like deepfakes generated by X’s Grok AIlist 3 of 3What’s Grokipedia, Musk’s AI-powered rival to Wikipedia?end of listThe standalone Grok app, which operates separately from X, still allows users to generate images without a subscription.The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines and several countries pushed back publicly against the tool that allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects’ clothes.The European Commission said on Monday that such images circulating on X were unlawful and appalling.The United Kingdom’s data regulator also said it had asked the platform to explain how it was complying with data protection laws following concerns that Grok was generating sexually abusive images of women.On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office called the move to limit access to paying subscribers “insulting” to victims and “not a solution”.“That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. “It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.”The EU executive, for its part, said it had “taken note of the recent changes”.But EU digital affairs spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters, “This doesn’t change our fundamental issue, paid subscription or non-paid subscription.”