Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
