Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.