Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
