Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
