Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked significant backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, 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 artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
