Grok AI digitally removes female journalist Samantha Smith's clothes
Grok AI digitally removes female journalist Samantha Smith's clothes
Occurred: January 2026
Page published: December 2025
Grok's AI image generation capability was used to digitally remove the clothing of a female journalist, raising concerns about AI-enabled sexual abuse and platform accountability.
UK-based freelance journalist Samantha Smith repeatedly had her clothing removed by Elon Musk's chatbot Grok in response to requests by users of X (formerly Twitter), also owned by Musk.
Smith told the BBC that, while the resulting images were not actual photographs of her naked, they looked like her and felt as violating as if someone had posted a nude or bikini photo of her without consent.
She described feeling “dehumanised and reduced into a sexual stereotype” by the experience.
Dozens of similar cases have been identified where women reported having their photos edited in this way.
X's permissive design incentivises users to test the boundaries of its deliberately loose safety filters.
And when incidents such as Smith's undressing occur, the company is usually unwilling to discuss X's limitations in any meaningful sense in public, with xAI writing off Smith's undressing as "legacy media lies".
xAI admitted to "lapses in safeguards" only after a broader backlash to its undressing of minors, suggesting that the model was poorly or inadequately trained before its launch.
For Smith, the experience felt violatory and degrading, and undermined her personal dignity, safety, and professional standing.
For society, the case highlights how generative AI can lower the cost and scale of non-consensual sexual abuse, underlining the need for stronger technical safeguards, clearer platform liability, rapid takedown mechanisms, and legal remedies addressing AI-generated sexualised imagery.
Grok 🔗
Developer: xAI
Country: UK
Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts
Purpose: Remove woman's clothing
Technology: Generative AI
Issue: Accountability; Privacy
Online Safety Act
AIAAIC Repository ID: AIAAIC2176