Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
