Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
