Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
