Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
