Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
