Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
