Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
