Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
