Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
