Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
