Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
