Grok under fire for sexualizing women and children's images

Elon Musk's Grok is searching for solutions after users claimed that the artificial intelligence chatbot turned pictures of women and children into sexualized images.

"We've identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them," Grok said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A deluge of complaints began to pour in on X after an "edit image" button was rolled out on Grok in late December.

The new feature lets users alter images on the platform, but it became a problem when some users tried the new feature and used it to generate pictures of women and children with partially or fully removed clothes, according to the complaints.

"CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is illegal and prohibited," Grok said.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

The full extent of the misuse of the feature could not be determined.

However, Reuters news agency reviewed public requests sent to Grok over ‍a single 10-minute period at midday US Eastern Time on Friday and tallied 102 attempts by X users to use Grok to digitally edit photographs of people so that they would appear to be wearing bikinis.

The widespread circulation of erotic images on X has sparked concern across several countries.

Lawmakers in France have reported X ⁠to prosecutors and regulators over the disturbing images, saying in a statement on Friday the "sexual and sexist" content was "manifestly illegal."

The content generated by Grok was also reported to French media regulator Arcom ⁠for ​checks on whether the content complied ‌with ‌the European Union's Digital Services Act, the ministers said.

Meanwhile, the Indian government sent a notice to X ordering it to take corrective action and send a report within 72 hours on the measures the platform is adopting.

The order also restricted the generation of content involving "nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit, or otherwise unlawful" material.