Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
