Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
