Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
