Elon Musk's Grok AI Changes Photographs of Females to Digitally Remove Their Clothes
The online network X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.