The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Alters Images of Women to Virtually Strip Them
The social media platform X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
