Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
