Elon Musk's Grok AI Changes Photographs of Females to Digitally Remove Their Clothes
The online network X has provoked major backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
