Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
