Grok Gets New Terms and Takes New Rights to Likeness

xAI reworked two documents on the same day: Grok's Terms of Service and its Acceptable Use Policy (the list of things you are not allowed to do). The Terms got shorter, and the long list of banned uses moved into the Acceptable Use Policy, which got longer. Along the way, xAI added rules for when Grok acts on its own, took a new license over any person's face or voice that shows up in your content, and widened the rights it holds over everything you upload. The banned uses did not vanish. They moved to the other document and grew.

In human terms: A editor uses Grok to help put together a pitch reel that includes footage of a client's on-camera actor. Under the new Terms, uploading that footage means xAI gets a license to use the actor's image, likeness, and voice, and it is now the editor’s job to have gotten every permission needed for that. Separately, a user tries Grok's new feature that browses websites and edits files on its own. When one of those automatic actions does something it shouldn't, the user finds out the Terms say xAI is not responsible for what those actions do. Neither the likeness rule nor the "not responsible" rule was in the version of the Terms the user first agreed to.

Why this matters: Two of these changes hit creators directly. First, the likeness rule means any face or voice in what you upload gets pulled into xAI's broader content license, and you are the one on the hook for getting permission. Second, the new "agent" feature lets Grok do things for you, including dealing with other companies and even banks, while xAI reserves the right to say it is not responsible for the results.

There is also a bright spot for our beat: the Acceptable Use Policy now bans removing the hidden "this is AI" tags and watermarks from content, which puts xAI in surprising company this week. Add it up, and xAI took more rights over your content and your likeness in one document while adding to your list of duties in the other. Details follow:

The mechanics: Grok can now act on its own, and xAI says it is not responsible. New wording covers this: "Certain features of the Service may enable Grok to take autonomous actions on your behalf ('Agentic Actions'), including but not limited to web browsing, code execution, sending communications, modifying files, tool invocation, data processing, or interactions with third-party services, including financial institutions." The same section says xAI "disclaims all liability for Agentic Actions to the fullest extent permitted by law." That idea was then worked into the warranty, liability, and content-removal sections.

The likeness rule is brand new. The old Terms had nothing like it. The new Terms say: "To the extent the User Content includes a person's image, likeness, voice, or other similar attributes, you grant xAI the same rights to use those attributes as part of the User Content as described above. You represent and warrant that you have obtained all rights, licenses, notices, permissions, and consents necessary for xAI to use that User Content."

The content license got wider. The main grant added new words and a broader reach, including "process, adapt, transmit ... upload, download," the phrase "including anything referenced therein," and the catch-all "in any and all media or distribution methods now known or later developed, for any purpose."

A new line lets xAI label your outputs as AI-made: "xAI may apply a disclosure stating that the content was generated or altered by artificial intelligence. By using the Service, you agree that such disclosures may be applied to your Outputs."

The limit on who reviews your content came off. The old Terms said "A limited number of our authorized personnel may review how you use the Service and your User Content." The new Terms drop the count: "Our authorized personnel may review ..."

Crediting Grok went from a request to a rule. The old Terms said "We ask that when using Output, you attribute the Service." The new Terms require it: "you are required to obtain our permission and attribute your generation of the Output to the Service."

The banned uses moved and grew. The bans on building competing models, on distillation (using one model's output to train another), on scraping, on high-stakes automatic decisions, and on hiding that you're using AI all still exist, now in the Acceptable Use Policy. That policy adds new bans too, including one on removing or getting around the built-in "this is AI" tags and watermarks, a full set of bans on likeness abuse, and bans on jailbreaking and prompt injection.

One thing does not show up anywhere: the old, formal copyright-complaint process (the DMCA steps for reporting infringement) was taken out of the Terms and does not appear in the Acceptable Use Policy either, which only offers a basic "report a violation" button. It may live in a document we don't track yet, so we are flagging it as an open question and holding off on calling it gone.