Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
