Controversial new AI image editor has artists deserting X (again)

Like many brands, a lot of artists stopped using the former Twitter in the great X exodus a couple of years ago. Elon Musk's chaotic rebranding of the platform along with a rise in AI bots and a proliferation of conspiracy theories and hate speech caused many to seek Twitter alternatives.

Some chose to hang on, but perhaps not for much longer after Elon Musk announced a dubious Christmas present for the X community. The platform has rolled out a controversial new feature that allows users to edit any image on the platform using AI, and artists are understandably furious.

All images on X now have an 'edit image' option that can be accessed by clicking on the three dots at the top right of a post or via an icon that appears on images themselves. The option seems to appear across all accounts, including on images of famous IPs from movies, TV and video games.

Clicking 'Edit image' brings up a text box in which the users can input a prompt to request changes to the image. The resulting AI slop can then be downloaded or shared on X.

The ubiquity of AI image generators means it was already easy for anyone to download an image from the web and modify it using AI. But artists are angry that X is now directly encouraging this by making AI editing directly accessible in the platform via a single click.

Not only is the feature automatically enabled by default, but there appears to be no way to opt out.

“Sorry Elon, but no artist wants others to be able to manipulate or steal their art,” one person commented on Elon Musk's post above. “The days of using Twitter to promote real art are coming to an end,” another person wrote.

Others agree, with many artists announcing that they will no longer post images on X.

So there is there anything that can be done? Tools like Nightshade and Glaze were developed to protect digital art from AI training, but they do nothing to prevent AI editing.

Some people are recommending turning of AI permissions in X at Settings > Privacy > Grok & Third-Party Collaborators, but none of these specifically refer to AI image editing. According to Grok itself, there's no way to disable the new feature.

Others have suggested that one way to upload images without them being editable is to save them as GIFs instead of JPGs, although this involves a loss of image quality.

Big businesses could turn out to be on artists' side. Considering how companies and groups like The Motion Picture Association opposed OpenAI's Sora app, it seems likely that many will be concerned about the feature. Disney recently demanded that Google stop Gemini from reproducing its IPs after it announced a deal with OpenAI.

Someone cynical might even suggest that X chose to launch the feature during the holiday period to give it a few days to see how people use it before the cease-and-desist letters start to arrive.

What do you think? Will you continue to use X or move to AI-free platforms like Cara?