Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
