Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
