Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
