Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
