Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures 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 "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
