Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.