The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Modifies Pictures of Women to Digitally Strip Them
The online network X has sparked significant anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
