The Grok AI Modifies Pictures of Women to Virtually Strip Them
The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
