Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
