Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
