Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
