The Grok AI Changes Images of Women to Virtually Undress Them
The online platform X has caused widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
