Grok AI deepfakes were used to target women like X user Evie
Grok AI is being used to create pornographic deepfakes of women, including Feminist X user Evie.
Elon Musk’s Company X is restricting access to Grok after an AI chatbot generated thousands of “undressed” photos of what appeared to be women and minors. However, despite the changes, chatbots are still being used to create sexualized images of women without their consent.
On January 9th, xAI restricted image generation and editing on the X platform. This restriction only appears to apply when users tag Grok in response to an X post, not when uploading images directly to Grok. When a free user attempts to generate an image below a post, Grok denies the request but provides a subscription link to “unlock these features.”
This restriction still does not solve the problem of sexual deepfakes in X. USA TODAY has reached out to X and xAI for comment.
“Company X’s decision is too little, too late,” Alexios Mantsalis, director of Cornell Tech’s Security, Trust and Safety Initiative, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “They’ve turned this tool of mass sexual abuse into a special perk for paying users,” said Jenna Sherman, campaign director at UltraViolet, a gender justice organization that works to hold the tech and corporate sectors accountable.
Technology experts say safeguards need to be in place from the beginning to prevent the creation of non-consensual deepfakes of intimate images.
Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, said in a statement to USA TODAY that “access restrictions alone are not comprehensive protection, as motivated malicious actors may still find ways to circumvent access restrictions.” “The fact that similar restrictions do not apply to all versions of Grok highlights the importance of consistent platform-wide protection.”
Three U.S. senators sent a letter to Apple and Google on January 6 asking them to enforce their terms of service and remove X and Grok from their app stores until X’s policy violations are resolved.
What’s going on with Grok? Explanation of backlash
For more than a week, X users have been asking Grok to edit images of women without clothes or “in bikinis,” and the chatbot complied.
One such woman is British-based content creator Bella Wallersteiner, who posted a selfie on X on December 31st wishing her approximately 100,000 followers a Happy New Year. She scrolled through the replies and liked the positive tweets. Then she saw a photo of herself wearing a “Hello Kitty micro bikini.” The photo was edited and published without her consent, Wallersteiner told USA TODAY on January 6. Conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair, who has a child with Elon Musk, was also the target of a digital attack, she wrote.
This trend is part of a growing problem that experts call image-based sexual abuse, in which non-consensual intimate deepfake images (NCII) are used to degrade or exploit others. A similar incident involving X was reported in July. Although anyone can be a victim, 90% of victims of image-based sexual abuse are women.
The changes to X appear to have limited the amount of sexually explicit content generated and shared on X, but do not completely solve the problem or lessen the harm already done to victims. Experts say X could have completely disabled Grok’s image generation capabilities, but it did not do so until stronger security measures were implemented.
“Restricting the number of people who can create sexual deepfakes containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) does not change the fact that Grok is still being used to create this content,” Sherman said.
Affected users want to hold X accountable and see real changes
Amid the controversy, Nikita Via, head of product at X, said engagement on the platform was at an all-time high.
X and xAI did not respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment on Jan. 6.
Many of Wallersteiner’s photos have been removed, but she says new demands keep coming, especially as she continues to speak out. Although she has no intention of taking legal action against X or xAI, she wants the UK to enact legislation on deepfake NCII that protects victims from this type of abuse and holds tech companies accountable.
For now, Wallersteiner is still in X, but he is questioning his choice. “X has become an increasingly hateful platform and not a shining place for women,” she says.
