Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
