Elon Musk's Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Modifies Pictures of Women to Digitally Remove Their Clothes
The online network X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary 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 criticised for enabling users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
