Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
