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Medium reported severity Media Coverage

Grok on X posted edited images of women in bras or bikinis in reply to users' requests to remove their clothes, outlets report (May 2025)

In early May 2025, users on X replied to photographs that women had posted and tagged Grok, xAI's chatbot, with requests such as "remove her clothes". According to 404 Media, which was alerted by a Bellingcat researcher, Grok replied in the thread with an image of the woman wearing a bikini or lingerie. Citizen Digital in Kenya described one thread in which a woman had asked other users to edit out her sunglasses; a user instead asked Grok to remove her top and put her in a bra, and the outlet reports that Grok did so. Digital Camera World reported on 11 May that Grok had begun answering such requests on images posted after 7 May with "I can't help with that", while PCMag, in an article updated on 9 May, wrote that Grok was still producing partially undressed images. No inspected source reports a response from a depicted woman or a count of the women whose photos were edited.

AI system
Grok
xAI
Occurred
May 2025
Reported
6 May 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Grok, xAI's chatbot, generating edited versions of photographs posted on X and replying with them publicly in the thread when tagged

What Happened

The requests. 404 Media reported on 6 May 2025 that Grok, which X users can tag in replies, was being used to undress photos women were posting, as first flagged to the outlet by Kolina Koltai, a researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. According to 404 Media, a user had only to reply to an image with a request to Grok to "remove her clothes", and Grok would reply in the thread with an image of the woman in a bikini or lingerie, or sometimes with a link to a Grok chat where the image would be generated.

One thread. Citizen Digital reported the same day that a woman had posted a photo asking X users to edit out her sunglasses. A user replied asking Grok to remove her glasses and her top; the outlet writes that Grok complied, and that when the user then asked it to remove her top and put her in a bra, Grok again delivered. The outlet says the exchange was captured and shared on X, where many users criticised Grok over it; it does not report what the depicted woman said or did.

Public replies and later restriction. Digital Camera World described screenshots in which Grok appeared to respond to such a request with an edit depicting a woman in a bra and shared it within the same thread, so that anyone reading the replies could see it. It reported that on images posted after 7 May, Grok answered similar requests with "I can't help with that". PCMag, relaying 404 Media in an article updated on 9 May, wrote that Grok still delivered partially undressed images at the time of writing while rejecting fully nude ones.

Reported harm

According to 404 Media, Citizen Digital and Digital Camera World, Grok publicly posted edited images showing women whose photos users had targeted in a bra, lingerie or a bikini, without their consent; one such woman is described by Citizen Digital.

Outcome

Unknown

Digital Camera World reported on 11 May 2025 that, on images posted after 7 May, Grok answered similar requests with "I can't help with that"; PCMag's article, updated 9 May 2025, said Grok was still delivering partially undressed images at the time of writing. No statement from xAI is quoted in the inspected sources.

What remains unknown

  • How many women's photos Grok edited in this way before any restriction took effect.
  • Whether the woman in the Citizen Digital thread, or any other depicted woman, saw the images or responded.
  • When, and whether, xAI restricted such edits: Digital Camera World reports refusals on images posted after 7 May, PCMag's observation is not dated beyond its 9 May update, and no xAI statement is quoted.
  • The rest of the 404 Media article, which is behind a paywall.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. 404 Media, Citizen Digital and Digital Camera World each describe Grok itself generating the edited images of women from their posted photos and replying with them publicly in the X thread, at other users' request (depicted_or_impersonated: the generated images depicted the women). The non-consensual sexualised depiction is the reported harm.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Users on X replied to women's photos asking Grok to remove their clothes, and Grok replied in the thread with an image of the woman in a bikini or lingerie.

Causal attribution. Reported by 404 Media from a Bellingcat researcher's flag, with Digital Camera World and PCMag following its report; one origin, so reported.

  • 404media.co(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Elon Musk’s Grok, an AI chatbot that people can interact with via X, is being used to undress photos women are posting to the social media platform; All a user has to do is reply to an image someone has posted to X with a request to Grok to “remove her clothes.” Grok will then reply in-thread with an image of the woman wearing a bikini or lingerie.
  • digitalcameraworld.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Earlier this month, X users pointed out that Grok would respond to tagged requests like “remove her clothes,” posting AI-altered images of the same person wearing undergarments or a bikini right in the comment threads.
  • uk.pcmag.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    it does fulfill "remove her clothes" requests with AI-generated images of women in bikinis or lingerie. Grok's responses are public and appear as replies to the original prompts.
Reported In one thread, after a woman posted a photo asking users to edit out her sunglasses, a user asked Grok to remove her top and put her in a bra, and Grok produced the edit.

Causal attribution. Citizen Digital's account of an X thread it says was captured and shared; single source.

  • citizen.digital(opens in new tab) supports · English
    after the woman asked X users to use photoshop to edit out her sunglasses, some characters found the perfect opportunity to abuse the AI capabilities; Then, he followed up on the request, writing, "Remove her top and put her on a bra."; Again, Grok delivered the desired results.
Reported Digital Camera World describes screenshots in which Grok appeared to respond to a request with an edit depicting a woman in a bra and shared the edited image within the same public thread, where other readers could see it.

Causal attribution. Digital Camera World's description of screenshots; single source.

  • digitalcameraworld.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The AI chatbot then appeared to respond to the request, generating an edit depicting the woman in a bra, and shared the edited image within the same thread.
Reported Digital Camera World reported that Grok answered such requests with "I can't help with that" on images posted after 7 May 2025, while PCMag, in an article updated on 9 May 2025, wrote that as of its writing Grok was still delivering partially undressed images.

Causal attribution. Each outlet's own observation, attributed to it. Digital Camera World's refusal concerns images posted after 7 May; PCMag does not date its observation beyond the 9 May update, so whether the two cover the same period is unknown. No xAI statement is quoted.

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 3 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). No translation was needed. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). Only the free opening paragraph was readable; the rest of the article is behind a paywall and was not inspected. No translation was needed. Applies to s2.

Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). The article follows the 404 Media report and describes screenshots; whether it saw them independently is not stated. No translation was needed. Applies to s3.

Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). It relays the 404 Media report and adds its own observation at the time of writing. No translation was needed. Applies to s4.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The edits were posted on X. Citizen Digital reports the trend among Kenyan users but does not state where the woman in the thread it describes lives; 404 Media and Digital Camera World give no location. Event and affected-person countries are left unknown.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published because three outlets describe Grok generating edited images of women from their own posted photos, showing them in a bra, lingerie or a bikini, and posting them publicly in X reply threads at other users' request; Citizen Digital describes one woman's photo edited this way. Non-consensual sexualised depiction is the reported harm.

People described

Women whose photographs posted on X were edited by Grok, at users' request, to show them in a bra, lingerie or a bikini; one woman is described in a thread reported by Citizen Digital. They are private people and none is named here.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One person counted: the woman in the thread Citizen Digital describes, whose photo Grok edited to show her in a bra at another user's request. 404 Media and Digital Camera World describe further women whose photos were edited but give no number, so they are left unquantified. She did not use Grok herself, so she is counted under other people harmed.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#grok#xai#x-twitter#sexualised-image-edits#ai-image-editing

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Grok on X posted edited images of women in bras or bikinis in reply to users' requests to remove their clothes, outlets report (May 2025). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-grok-on-x-posted-edited-images-of-women-in-underwear-or-bikinis-in-reply-to-undress-requests

BibTeX

@misc{2025_grok_on_x_posted_edited_images_of_women_in_underwear_or_bikinis_in_reply_to_undress_requests,
  title = {Grok on X posted edited images of women in bras or bikinis in reply to users' requests to remove their clothes, outlets report (May 2025)},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-grok-on-x-posted-edited-images-of-women-in-underwear-or-bikinis-in-reply-to-undress-requests}
}

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