Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked significant outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
