Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has faced widespread criticism after introducing a feature that allows users to create sexualized images of women without their consent. This tool can take photos containing images of real people from social media platform X and digitally alter them to remove clothing or wear lingerie or bikinis.The situation worsened in late December when it rolled out an “image editing” button that allowed users to change any image on the platform. Some users have reportedly used it to partially or completely remove clothing from women and children in photos. Since the feature launched on Christmas Day, Grok's X account has been flooded with sexually explicit requests.But instead of taking the issue seriously, Musk seemed to be making fun of it, posting laughing-crying emojis in response to AI edits of celebrities in bikinis, including himself.
Grok acknowledged the issue on X and responded by saying, “We have identified deficiencies in our security measures and are working to rectify them as soon as possible.” The chatbot also emphasized that “CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is illegal and prohibited.”In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday wrote to X for “failure to meet statutory due diligence obligations” under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The ministry called for an action report to prevent the hosting, generation, and uploading of obscene, nude, indecent, and sexually explicit content through AI services like Grok.The letter directed Company X's Indian operations to “strictly refrain from hosting, displaying, uploading, publishing, transmitting, storing, or sharing in any manner any obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic content, or any content that is prohibited by law for the time being in force.” It also warned that non-compliance could result in loss of liability immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act and other legal consequences.Meanwhile, in Paris, prosecutors expanded their investigation into X to include new charges that Grok is being used to create and distribute child pornography.One woman, Samantha Smith, told the BBC she felt “dehumanised and sexually stereotyped” after Grok digitally removed her clothes. “It wasn't me that was in the state of undress, but it looked like me, it felt like me, and it felt violated, as if someone had actually posted a nude photo or a bikini photo of me,” she said.
