Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
