Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted 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 technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
