Elon Musk's Grok AI Modifies Images of Women to Virtually Undress Them
Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
