Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
