Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
