Elon Musk's Grok AI Alters Images of Females to Virtually Undress Them
The social media network X has sparked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images 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 forbids "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.