Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
