🔗 Share this article

Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Company Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".

"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Regulator Position and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.

History of Controversy and Policy

The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.

"X has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.