Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
