Criticism has increased against X's AI chatbot 'Grok' after users began creating sexual, semi-nude, and offensive images of women and children.
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Along with female celebrities, leaders such as US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was recently taken into custody by the US, have also been seen wearing bikinis and posting semi-nude photos.
Twitter, once known for its fast and open public dialogue, is now under fire for its use of Grok. Developed by Elon Musk and his company XAI, the world's richest man, Grok had an 'image edit' feature. Abusing it, users uploaded photos of women, celebrities, children and ordinary users and made them semi-nude with offensive commands like 'put her in a bikini' or 'take off her clothes'. The controversy erupted after Grok complied with such commands instead of refusing them.
According to political analyst and author Ashley St. Clair, who is also the mother of one of Musk's sons, Grok has filed a complaint alleging that the photo she took when she was 14 was sexually explicit and offensive. She claimed in a lengthy post on X that Grok had created bikini photos of her from childhood photos, following users' commands to 'undress'. She said she felt "horrified and deeply humiliated" after the incident.
X has been accused by regulators and experts of failing to implement platform-level safeguards to prevent pornographic AI content. Reuters reported that initial investigations into the extent of the abuse suggest the problem is not limited to users. Although no exact figures have been released, the BBC and Reuters, citing regulatory documents and inside sources, have reported thousands of such requests every day since late December.
Some of the complaints on X have involved women being sexually modified, and in some cases, even images of minors being transformed into offensive scenes. CNBC reported that the number of such requests increased around the New Year, and users shared screenshots of the trend. Reuters reported that Grok received more than 100 requests for bikini and nude photos in 10 minutes last week, and that XAI accepted 29 of them and generated the images.
The incident has sparked a strong reaction from the government. India and the UK have sent formal notices to X, seeking clarification on possible violations of the law. India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has said that the images of women were repeatedly altered and made public without their consent, calling it a violation of privacy and dignity. It has also directed X to submit a report detailing the steps taken within 72 hours under the Information Technology Act.
In a statement on the platform, X's safety team responded by saying, "We will take action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, remove such content, permanently suspend accounts and, if necessary, cooperate with local governments and law enforcement agencies." Musk himself has also posted that "anyone who uses Grok to create illegal content should face consequences." However, in some cases, he himself appears to have been responsible for spreading the images of himself and others that were posted in this way.
The UK's communications regulator Ofcom has asked X to clarify whether it fulfilled its legal obligation to protect users from harmful and illegal content. The European Union and France have launched an investigation, calling it "illegal and disgusting."
In Nepal, it has also been seen that some high-ranking political leaders and influencers have been asked to wear bikinis in photos and that Grok has done so. Such images are scattered across X. The incident has reignited an old debate about the ethical use of social media and AI. The BBC noted that the use of powerful AI platforms has led to the conclusion that clear standards and strict regulation are needed to balance responsibility, the effectiveness of content management and user safety.
