Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
