Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
