Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
