Tip Sheets
Reckless deployment of AI image generators ‘enabled and pushed’ by tech industry
January 9, 2026
Media Contact
The chatbot Grok has started limiting requests for A.I. images to X subscribers who pay for certain premium features. The move comes after major criticism and backlash over users creating sexualized deepfakes without consent.
Alexios Mantzarlis
Director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative (SETS)
Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, has previously studied Grok and other chatbots. He says record stock valuations of tech companies have come at the cost of commodifying image-based sexual abuse.
Mantzarlis says:
"X's decision is too little, too late. You don't get to turn your chatbot into a tool of mass sexualized harassment and then two weeks later say the problem is fixed because the abusers have to pay for the privilege.
“The problem isn't limited to Elon Musk. Microsoft Azure highlights Grok as a foundry model; Google and Apple provide Grok on their app stores. The reckless deployment of AI image generators has been enabled and pushed by the entire tech industry. Record stock valuations have come at the cost of commodifying image-based sexual abuse."
