The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Alters Photographs of Females to Virtually Undress Them
The social media network X has caused major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
