Elon Musk's Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Changes Pictures of Females to Digitally Strip Them

The online platform X has sparked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.

Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Developer Reaction and Legal Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".

"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.

It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.

History of Controversy and Rules

The tool has been condemned for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.

"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.