The Grok AI Alters Pictures of Women to Digitally Strip Them
Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
