Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation 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 could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
