Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
