Elon Musk’s social media platform X said Wednesday it has taken steps to prevent its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people, following global backlash over the creation of sexualized photos of women and children.

The announcement came after California’s attorney general launched an investigation into Musk’s AI company xAI, which developed Grok, and after several countries either blocked access to the chatbot or opened their own probes.

X said it will geoblock the ability of Grok and X users to create images of people in bikinis, underwear, or similar attire in jurisdictions where such content is 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.

The restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers, the company said.

In an additional safeguard, X said image creation and photo-editing features through Grok are now available only to paid subscribers.

The European Commission, which oversees digital regulation in the European Union, said earlier it had taken note of “additional measures X is taking to ban Grok from generating sexualised images of women and children.”

“We will carefully assess these changes to make sure they effectively protect citizens in the EU,” Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said, following sharp criticism over the nonconsensual images.

Global pressure builds

Pressure on xAI has intensified after Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” enabled users to generate sexualized deepfake images using simple prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday.

“We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material,” he said.

Bonta said the investigation will examine whether xAI violated state law after the imagery was allegedly used to harass people online.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said xAI’s “vile” decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes prompted him to urge the attorney general to hold the company accountable.

International action

Adding to the pressure, a coalition of 28 civil society groups sent open letters Wednesday to the CEOs of Apple and Google, urging them to remove Grok and X from their app stores.

Indonesia became the first country to block Grok entirely on Saturday, followed by Malaysia on Sunday.

India said Sunday that X removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts after government complaints.

Britain’s media regulator Ofcom said Monday it opened an investigation into whether X violated U.K. law over the sexual images.

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

Last week, Paris-based nonprofit AI Forensics analyzed more than 20,000 Grok-generated images and found more than half depicted individuals in minimal attire, most of them women, with about 2% appearing to be minors.