Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
