Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
