Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
