Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
