Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution 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 persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
