Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
