I’ve always believed my rules about what I post on social media are straightforward and sensible.
For example, I didn’t put up pictures of my boys until they were old enough to understand (or until they started posting themselves). I tend to avoid snaps that could identify where I live and I don’t put holiday shots online until I’m back safely.
To be fair, I’ve also made calls the other way – I was happy to share the story of my breast cancer treatment more or less in real time, as well as my account of growing up in a house with a father who was a domestic abuser. Everyone will have their own red lines and grey areas.
What I have definitely never posted is a photo of me in a bikini, sipping a cocktail while standing next to a flag. The main reason is that I’ve never actually posed for a picture like that because it didn’t happen: it is a total and unpleasant fiction.
I’ve been Grok’d, and I don’t like it at all.
This unwelcome new addition to our language – Grok – comes originally from a controversial 1960s science fiction novel called Stranger in a Strange Land and was adopted by Elon Musk in 2023 as the name of his AI chatbot on X, which in the good old days used to be Twitter.
The idea is that you ask Grok to answer questions, research stuff and solve problems. Where’s the harm in that?
Except Grok is now being used to create sexualised images of women and girls without their consent. X users are requesting the chatbot to manipulate real photos of women for all to see on the platform, presumably because they get pleasure out of harassment and misogyny.
It’s got so bad that Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has described it as “absolutely appalling” and called on Musk to deal with the situation urgently.
On Newsnight, I spoke to Dr Daisy Dixon, a philosophy lecturer at Cardiff University who, apart from being a respected academic, is also a fitness and health enthusiast who posts occasional pictures of her workout and gym regime.
Users of X “asked” Grok to change those images – and her profile picture – to ridicule her. Some of the early versions had Dr Dixon with a clown face, but soon they became sexualised – putting her in a bikini or underwear – before moving on to increasing or decreasing the size of parts of her body.
She told me the experience was “alienating” and understandably she felt shocked, frightened and unsafe. Yes, unsafe: she was in her own home, and the fact that there are people out there wanting to do this to her image made her feel frightened. And you have to assume that’s exactly what those doing this wanted.
X says that they take action against illegal content by removing it and “permanently suspending accounts and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.
As for Grok, X says anyone using it to make such content will “suffer the same consequences” as if they had uploaded illegal content.
So Dr Dixon reported her harassment and the vile, manipulated images she was seeing of “herself”. Within minutes, Grok snapped into action, apologised profusely, deleted them and banned the users from their platform.
Only kidding.
What actually happened was X wrote back and said there had been no violation of their rules. So it’s perfectly okay to do this to women, even though they have not consented?
Dr Dixon says she’s aware of other women who are experiencing “far worse”, and children have been targeted too. The response was the same: there’s been no violation of X rules, so we’ll take no action.
My interview with Dr Dixon, who deserves great credit for going public – after all, we all know how this works – was shared on social media, including on X.
And that’s when I was targeted with the bikini shot I mentioned earlier. And there’s another “photo” of me hosting Newsnight wearing a bikini. These are nasty and sinister and it felt as if I was being taught a lesson: a “punishment” for daring to cover the story.
The first account which posted these Grok’d images is anonymous with next to no followers, so I’m probably helping him – and you’ll forgive me if I assume it’s a “he” – by talking about it. The second account appears to have a profile pic of an actual man wearing sunglasses, with a Covid mask around his neck.
As of today, X has limited image editing on Grok to paid subscribers to X. But of course, non-X subscribers can still use Grok to edit images on the Grok app and website.
I get that being on TV means I’m going to be targeted to a certain extent online. I know it goes with the turf – but honestly, most people who engage with me online are respectful and courteous. I’m super happy to chat to them about stories and interviews I’ve done. But this attack gave me a small taste of what Dr Dixon and other women have been going through.
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Legislation to criminalise creating or requesting the creation of non-consensual deepfake intimate images is progressing through Parliament, but the law hasn’t come into effect yet. I hope Ofcom and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall’s calls prompt some action, yet I suspect even writing this will encourage others to “Grok”.
It never ceases to amaze me that no matter what advances are made in technology, there’s always a way to make sure women are on the wrong end of it.
Victoria Derbyshire is a journalist and broadcaster
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