Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
