Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
