Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated 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 remove it quickly when they learn of it.
