Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
