Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
