Elon Musk's Grok AI Modifies Pictures of Women to Virtually Undress Them
The online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
