Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
