Elon Musk's Grok AI Alters Pictures of Females to Virtually Undress Them
Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.