Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
