Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
