Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
