The Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Alters Images of Females to Digitally Strip Them
The online network X has provoked widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligenceāwith some additional functionsāwhich responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
