Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
