Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
