Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
