Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms 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 platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
