Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
