Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
