Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
