Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
