Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
