Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
