Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
