Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
