Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
