Elon Musk's Grok AI Changes Pictures of Women to Digitally Strip Them
The online network X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.