The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Modifies Images of Females to Digitally Strip Them
The social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
