The Grok AI Changes Images of Women to Virtually Strip Them
The social media network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"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 action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
