Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
