Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
