Elon Musk's Grok AI Changes Images of Females to Virtually Strip Them
Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
