Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their garments.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
