Elon Musk's Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Modifies Photographs of Females to Digitally Remove Their Clothes

Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.

Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".

"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

History of Controversy and Rules

The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.

"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.