Elon Musk's Grok AI Alters Pictures of Women to Virtually Remove Their Clothes
Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
