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Two Cabinet ministers ‘stripped to a bikini’ by Grok AI | News Politics
Two Cabinet members have become the latest victims to be ‘undressed’ by Grok AI on on Elon Musk’s X, Metro can reveal.
This newspaper has seen pictures of the senior politicians being shown in revealing bikinis at the request of members of the public.
A government source called the images ‘deeply disturbing’ and welcomed media regulator Ofcom’s announcement that they are in ‘urgent talks’ with X and xAI.
The Cabinet ministers are one of hundreds of examples of Grok generating images of partially-naked people without the subject’s consent.
Metro has seen hundreds of examples of Grok generating images of partially-naked people without the subject’s consent.
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Two Cabinet politicians – who Metro are not naming – have now also been targeted by these trolls.
The members of the public asked Grok to undress a picture of the cabinet members so that they were only wearing a bikini.
It took less than a minute in one case, and just five minutes in the other, for Grok to then post the fake bikini picture on X.
A government source said: ‘This is deeply disturbing – Ofcom are rightly taking urgent action.
‘Platforms have a clear obligation to act appropriately, and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure offenders face the full weight of the law for this behaviour.’
Ofcom has confirmed to Metro that it is in ‘urgent talks’ with X and xAI, the AI start-up behind Grok.
They said on Monday night that they were ‘aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children’.
Under the Online Safety Act (OSA), a bill that regulates online material, it is illegal to create or share intimate or sexually explicit images.
Social media companies must take steps to prevent harmful content on their platforms or else face fines from Ofcom.
Women have told Metro that the chatbot, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), has placed them in bikinis or ‘undressed’ them without their consent.
Although the bot, built by xAI, rejects prompts for completely nude images, it does fulfil requests to ‘remove her clothes’ or ‘put him in a jockstrap’.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said Elon Musk’s X must urgently deal the issue.
Ms Kendall said: ‘What we have been seeing online in recent days has been absolutely appalling, and unacceptable in decent society.
‘No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online.
‘We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls.
‘X needs to deal with this urgently. 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.’
A Government spokesperson said: ‘Sexually explicit deepfakes created without consent are degrading and harmful. We refuse to tolerate the Violence Against Women and Girls that stains our society.
‘That is why we have legislated to ban their non-consensual creation, ensuring that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm.’
‘We have also made intimate image abuse and cyberflashing priority offences under the Online Safety Act, including where images are AI-generated.
‘This means platforms must prevent this content from appearing online in the first place and swiftly remove it if it does.’
Elon Musk, who owns X, has defended his platform’s commitment to stamping out illegal content.
He stressed: ‘Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.’
X said in a statement: ‘We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.
‘Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.
‘For more information on our policies, please refer to our help pages for our full X Rules and range of enforcement options.’
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