Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
