Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
