Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
