Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
