X added a new option within the image upload settings in the app that will enable users to block its Grok artificial intelligence bot from generating alternate versions of their uploaded media.
The new option, available within the image/video upload flow in the post composer, includes a simple toggle that enables users to stop Grok from reimagining their material.
Which could be a significant update.
X is currently under investigation in several regions over the use of its AI-powered Grok editing option to strip down images of people in the app.
In early January, the Grok nudification trend gained big momentum in the app, with Bloomberg reporting that, at one stage, Grok was generating around 6,700 images every hour that would be categorized as “sexually suggestive or nudifying.”
Regulators in several nations called on X to remove the option to generate unauthorized nude images, but X owner Elon Musk initially refused to comply, and suggested that the push to remove the functionality was a politically-motivated effort designed to harm X.
But on Jan. 14, X did comply, updating Grok’s code to restrict users’ ability to generate sexualized of nude images of posted content, while also limiting access to Grok’s image generation features to paying X/Grok users.
Yet, even so, The Guardian reported on Jan. 16 that users could still generate deepfake nudes via Grok, with certain commands still able to produce potentially harmful, offensive images.
X is now facing significant fines, as a result of multiple regional investigations into the incident. Maybe X will be able to negate at least some of those impacts if it can point to this control option, buried within its upload settings, that gives users the option to control whether their images can be edited by Grok.
That could actually end up saving X millions of dollars in penalties, while also providing a valuable option for users.
X hasn’t promoted the new option as yet, but it is a simple, important alternative, which could play a key role in X posting moving forward.
