Elon Musk's Grok AI Modifies Pictures of Women to Virtually Remove Their Clothes
The online platform X has sparked major anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
