Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
