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Artists found a loophole to protect their art from Grok, here’s how

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Ritesh Singh
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From Google extensions to taking a deep dive into policies, here's how artists found ways to save their work when Grok threatened to manipulate it.

You know the feeling of what happens when the credit for your hard work is stolen from you, and the person stealing your work morphs it to their liking. That's what artists have been dealing with lately, whether it's AI reading and editing an artist's art or mimicking a creator's voice and mannerisms, all without any consent. However, artists on X have found a genius loophole. 

Also Read: Naagin 7's AI is a backstab to the NoAIArt movement, and here's why

What's real and what's not

AI, since its advent, has raised immense concern over privacy and authenticity. Advocates of AI said the differences would be noticeable, but this new AI trend on Instagram is a punch to their guts. AI personalities are imitating creators, frame by frame, with precision that the audience fails to recognise them as AI. Vocalist Pragati Naagar recently shared a cover of Just A Boy, that went viral on Instagram. 

However, to her horror, she found multiple AI-generated videos not only using her voice but also copying her mannerisms right down to her hair movement. While these videos have become a trend of it's own, knowing how realistic these AI personas look, is scary. It's especially true considering how people are dropping genuine comments of admiration with even brands collaborating.

While the trend recently exploded on Instagram, Elon Musk's X endured this storm for months. X's AI, Grok, would allow users to edit any existing image with a single prompt, regardless of the picture's complexities. It didn't take long for users to misuse it, with women and artists trapped in the storm's eye. Users used this feature to morph people into objectionable situations and clothes, with consent lost in the backdrop. As criticism poured in, artists fought for their work and partially won. X has now locked the feature behind a paywall, making it accessible only to those who have subscribed. While this reduces the accessibility, it doesn't stop the consentless morphing. 

The artists, however, were able to discover a loophole to fight back AI blatantly copying their work. Every social media platform has a policy that allows its AI to read your actions, data and conversations to improve itself. We agree to this policy by accepting the terms and conditions, including X. People realised that the best way to safeguard anyone's content is by opting out of this policy. Although an exhausting process, it's the best way to make sure Grok doesn't use your content.

If that seems too complex, there are other simpler ways. Grok can read and edit images that are in JPEG and PNG formats. This means if the project is posted in any other format, AI won't be able to understand it. A Reddit user named rxliuli was able to create a Google extension that can easily change any image in a format unreadable by Grok.

Another solution, they found, was to upload the artwork as GIFs or videos. It makes it even more difficult for people who are willing to run an extra mile and convert those unreadable formats into JPEG and PNG formats before feeding them to Grok. This may not save your project fully, but can create extra obstacles for Grok to cross.

Despite artists have managed to safeguard their work, we know that this isn't the end of it. The fact that anyone willing to pay can still use Grok, still remains. But watching artists across multiple platforms pushing harder against AI using their data, is a reminder that art will always belong to the people and no technology can ever replace the emotions that we feel for our own creations.

Do you agree that AI art is art? Let us know in the comments below!

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