Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked significant anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
