Elon Musk's Grok AI Changes Pictures of Females to Virtually Strip Them
The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
