Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than 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 upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
