Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
