🔗 Share this article

Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their garments.

Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.

Company Response and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Criticism and Policy

The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.

"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a pornographic way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.