The Grok AI Modifies Images of Females to Virtually Remove Their Clothes
The social media network X has caused major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.