Elon Musk’s Grok, an AI assistant that can be accessed via his social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), has faced a variety of controversy, including being rigged by Elon to have a right leaning mindset, praising Naziism, as well as several completely plain incorrect statements such as that second hand smoke exposure “isn’t real” and former First Lady Michelle Obama is a man. Its latest controversy is that it is being used to generate deepfake (realistic, AI-generated media) sexualised images of real people. Users send real images of people and tell Grok remove their clothes and replace them with lingerie or bikinis. Grok is restricted from making people outright naked, but users can request that the clothes are replaced with strings or dental floss.
A large proportion of the people being targeted are young women including the Stranger Things star, Millie Bobby Brown and Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer and one of Musk’s 4 baby mothers. When the latter posted online to complain about the images, a flood of people she called “Elon acolytes” responded that if she didn’t like being undressed by Grok, she should simply log off. Various female victims have described feeling violated and dehumanised. Women’s rights campaigners, including Refuge, Women’s Aid and Womankind Worldwide, have said they are “deeply concerned” by the reports and that there are “dangerous” consequences for women and girls, including to their safety and mental health.
Elon and X’s response to this have been mostly two-faced. He’s stated on X that “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content”, but simultaneously re-shared generated images, mostly of young, thin women in revealing outfits. X has said it acts against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary” but still many women report their photos are still on the site.
The UK Government and Ofcom have called on Musk and X to deal with the situation. Ofcom said it had
made “urgent contact” with Elon Musk’s company xAI and said it was investigating concerns Grok has been
producing “undressed images” of people. Liz Kendall, the Technology Secretary, has endorsed the
regulator’s actions, saying “It is absolutely right that Ofcom is looking into this as a matter of urgency and it
has my full backing to take any enforcement action it deems necessary.”
Sources:
BBC News – Elon Musk’s Grok AI image editing limited to paid users after deepfakes
BBC News – Government demands Musk’s X deals with ‘appalling’ Grok AI
Washington Post – X users tell Grok to undress women and girls in photos. It’s saying yes.
