Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
