Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included 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 take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
