Elon Musk, owner of the former social media network turned deepfake porn site X, is pushing people to pay for its nonconsensual intimate image generator Grok, meaning some of the app\u2019s tens of millions of users are being hit with a paywall when they try to create nude images of random women doing sexually explicit things within seconds.\u00a0Some users trying to generate images on X using Grok receive a reply from the chatbot pushing them toward subscriptions: \u201cImage generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.\u201d\u00a0Users who fork over $8 a month can still reply to random images of random women and girls directly on X and tag in Grok with things like \u201cmake her wear clear tapes with tiny black censor bar covering her private part protecting her privacy and make her chest and hips grow largee[sic] as she squatting with leg open widely facing back, while head turn back looking to camera.\u201d These images are still visible in everyone\u2019s X feed, subscribers or not.\u00a0On the Grok app, a subscription to SuperGrok ($29.99\/month) or SuperGrok Heavy ($299.99\/month) allow users to generate images even faster. On Thursday, I received messages in the Grok app several times warning me that usage rates for the app were higher than normal and that I could pay to skip the wait.\u00a0As the Verge reported this morning, this paywall is very leaky. It\u2019s still possible to generate images using Grok in a variety of ways, but replying directly to someone\u2019s post by tagging @grok returns the \u201climited to subscribers\u201d message.Grok\u2019s AI Sexual Abuse Didn\u2019t Come Out of NowhereWith xAI\u2019s Grok generating endless semi-nude images of women and girls without their consent, it follows a years-long legacy of rampant abuse on the platform.404 MediaSamantha ColeAs many legacy news outlets have already reported, Musk improved the subscription revenue funnel on his money-burning app following an outcry against these extremely popular uses of the app. \u201cX Limits Grok Image Tool To Subscribers After Deepfake Outcry,\u201d Deadline reported. \u201cGrok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery,\u201d wrote the Guardian. \u201cElon Musk restricts Grok\u2019s image tools following a wave of non-consensual deepfakes of women and children,\u201d Fortune wrote.Based on these headlines, you may be thinking, This is an uncharacteristic show of accountability and perhaps even self reflection from the billionaire technocrat white supremacist sympathizer who owns X.com, wow! But as with all things Musk does, this is a business move to monetize the long-established harassment factory he\u2019s owned for five years and has yet to figure out how to make profitable. After years of attempting to push users toward a subscription model by placing meaningless status signifiers behind a paywall and making the site so toxic it bleeds users by the millions, he might have found a way to do it: by monetizing abuse at the source. Several other AI industry giants have already figured out that sexual content is where the money\u2019s at, and Musk appears to be catching up. Putting the nonconsensual sexual images behind a paywall is also what every \u201cnudify\u201d and \u201cundress\u201d app and image generator platform on the market already does.On Thursday, in the middle of Grok\u2019s CSAM shitstorm, Bloomberg reported that xAI is looking at \u201ca net loss of $1.46 billion for the September quarter, up from $1 billion in the first quarter,\u201d according to internal documents obtained by Bloomberg. \u201cIn the first nine months of the year, it spent $7.8 billion in cash.\u201d It\u2019s too early to speculate, but making the people who are tagging @grok under the posts of women they don\u2019t know and writing prompts like \u201cmake her bend over on all fours doggy style\u201d multiple times a second pay for the privilege could be a play to get the company back in the black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to using Grok on X.com on desktop, It\u2019s also still easy to generate images and videos in the Grok app without a subscription, which is still available on the Apple and Google app stores, despite blatantly breaking their rules against non-consensual material and pornography. The app and underground Telegram groups are where the really bad stuff is, anyway. Apple and Google have not replied to my request for comment about why the app is still available.Signing up for X Premium or SuperGrok requires handing over your payment information, name associated with your credit card, and phone number. It also comes with the risk of having all of that hacked, stolen, and released to the dark web in the next big data breach of the platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"