Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
