Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
