Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
