The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Changes Photographs of Females to Digitally Undress Them
Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation 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 acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
