Are you at risk of being ‘digitally stripped’? X chatbot Grok has exposed how harmful AI can be

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'I felt humiliated'

You don’t have to be a tech expert to see how quickly artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily routine. From writing emails – yes, even those little prompts we get to complete sentences count as AI – to managing schedules, offering advice, problem-solving, and even carrying out some surgical procedures.

The start of 2026 opened with a disturbing social media trend on X (formerly Twitter) where some users began exploiting the platform’s built-in AI chatbot Grok to ‘digitally undress’ images of real people without their consent. These images are known as AI ‘deepfakes’, which are realistic but fabricated images created by artificial intelligence

By typing simple prompts under photos, such as ‘put this woman in a bikini’, users were able to manipulate existing images to make subjects appear in sexualised poses, and other commands, such as ‘put bruises on her’ to create violent scenarios.

What is Grok?

Grok is an AI chatbot created by Elon Musk’s company xAI. First released in 2023, Grok can generate text, images and video and is available via a standalone app and directly within X. Grok is free to use, although there are some paid-for premium features.

One reported image depicted a woman with cigarette burns on her body, while another prompted, ‘Add blood, more worn out clothes (make sure it exposes scar or bruises), forced smile.’

Although X does not permit full nudification, users of Grok quickly identified loopholes, such as requesting ‘the thinnest, most transparent bikini’ to get around the bot’s restrictions. With a click of a button, users generated images with genitals and nipples underneath. Glue was also added to images to portray semen. The vast majority of the abusive images created via the Grok AI-bot were of women, but some even more disturbingly involved children, stripping them down to revealing swimwear and creating images that could be classed as child abuse. Feeling sick to your stomach yet?

The global response

Thankfully, international backlash was swift, particularly over the sexualisation of children, with governments taking action or threatening legal steps over Grok’s image editing.

On 12 January 2026, the UK’s media watchdog Ofcom launched a formal investigation into X over whether it breached its UK law under the Online Safety Act. Following pressure from governments, regulators and campaigners around the world, X announced new restrictions on Grok’s image-editing tools.

In a statement released on 15 January, the company said, ‘We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing, such as bikinis.

This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers. Additionally, image creation and the ability to edit images via the Grok account on the X platform are now only available to paid subscribers.

This adds an extra layer of protection by helping to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate the law or our policies can be held accountable.’

The company also reinforced its zero tolerance stance on child sexual exploitation and unwanted sexual content. While the move has been welcomed by Ofcom, their formal investigation remains ongoing.

Meanwhile, campaigners say the change has come too late and the restrictions don’t go far enough.

‘The disturbing rise in AI intimate image abuse, facilitated by platforms such as Grok, is not just a digital threat – it has dangerous consequences for women and girls,’ said Emma Pickering, head of technology-facilitated abuse and economic empowerment at Refuge.

‘While limiting AI image generation to paid users may marginally reduce volume and improve traceability, the abuse has not been stopped. It has simply been placed behind a paywall,’ Emma added.

Now, many of the disturbing images generated during the surge remain in circulation, meaning that for those who were targeted, the damage is already done.

'I felt humiliated'

A growing number of women have spoken publicly about the distressing impact of Grok-generated imagery, describing feelings of violation, humiliation, and loss of control over their own bodies. One of them is Dr Daisy Dixon, a philosophy lecturer at Cardiff University.

Dr Dixon first noticed strangers altering her profile picture online, such as changing her hair colour, clothes or adding clown make-up. But the behaviour escalated after she posted a gym progress photo. ‘I was fully clothed,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. ‘Users started asking Grok to put me in a bikini… in micro bikinis but they also started to alter parts of my body.

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‘Decrease, for instance, my muscles, but increase, let’s just say other parts of me and in a highly sexualised way.’

She was left ‘humiliated and confused’ by the images. ‘You don’t feel ownership over your body any more. Someone without your consent has taken it, controlled it and manipulated it.’

Another victim, Bella Wallersteiner, a public affairs executive and descendant of Holocaust survivors, said she was ‘digitally stripped’ after trolls instructed Grok to generate images of her in a bikini outside Auschwitz.

Reportedly, dozens of Nazi images were created by Grok, including women dressed in swastika bikinis or unclothed with swastika tattoos, as well as violent and bloody imagery.

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