Elon Musk's Grok AI Alters Pictures of Females to Digitally Remove Their Clothes
Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
