Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
