Today, artificial intelligence can easily write an educational article or create an entertaining video. However, it can just as easily create sensitive or unethical content. And that is precisely why the Grok artificial intelligence has once again come under fire. According to reporters from the British newspaper The Guardian, its AI tool generated sexualized images of real people, even though the company had previously promised to address the issue.
A viral trend that spiraled out of control
To better understand the entire controversy, we need to go back a few weeks. Sexualized deepfake photos sparked the “put her in a bikini” trend, which began spreading across X like an avalanche. Generating photos of famous women in swimwear literally turned into a massive wave of sexualized photo edits. And the number of such photos skyrocketed every day.
But as interest increased, so did the explicitness of the photos. Users began generating increasingly transparent swimwear, sexualized poses, and violent and degrading elements. A particular problem was that the targets were predominantly women (influencers, journalists, politicians, and ordinary users whose photos were publicly available). Even the mother of Elon Musk’s child became one of them.
Moreover, the digital undressing trend did not only affect adult women, but also children.
Sexualized content even after the rules were tightened
The entire situation attracted significant media attention. In response, an announcement appeared on the X platform stating that the network was tightening its rules and restricting the ability to generate sexualized images of real people. However, testing by journalists from the British newspaper The Guardian showed that the reality was different. Even after the restrictions were introduced, it was still possible to create sexualized content and even short videos in which women in ordinary photographs undress down to bikinis.
Moreover, the content could be shared directly on X without any major obstacles. This raised questions about how effective the measures actually are and whether the platform is even capable of monitoring this type of content in real time.
The problem also affected the standalone web version of the Grok Imagine tool. According to the findings, it responded to prompts to remove clothing from photos and even generated more sexualized outputs than the journalists had originally requested during testing.
Reactions from politicians and authorities
The controversy provoked strong reactions from both the public and experts. They warned that such deepfake edits can have real psychological and reputational consequences and that technology has outpaced both rules and legislation. However, the controversy surrounding Grok AI did not end there.
Politicians and regulatory authorities also became involved in the case, not only in the United Kingdom and the European Union, but also in America and Asia. The British media regulator Ofcom even launched an investigation into whether the X platform had breached its obligations under the Online Safety Act, a law requiring technology companies to protect users from illegal and harmful content.
Furthermore, concerns remain that circumventing safety rules is still very easy, meaning the entire controversy is setting a kind of precedent for how AI rules will be established in the future.
Another controversy to add to Grok’s collection
Grok now faces not only a technical challenge, but another test of user trust. Undressing women is certainly not the first problem faced by Grok AI or the X network. Similar controversies involving illegal content or its easy dissemination have previously raised questions about whether the company can safely manage new features. It is therefore time for the company to demonstrate whether it can truly learn from past scandals.
