Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
