Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
