Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
