Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
