Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused significant outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
