Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
